Project Title: Utilizing Leftover Stone from Granite America – Summer 2024

Overview

By transforming industrial waste into valuable community assets, this project will provide educational opportunities for students and tangible benefits for the community. It will also foster a culture of sustainability and innovation, showcasing the practical impacts of industrial engineering in everyday life. This project leverages the Theory of Constraints (TOC) to effectively utilize non-commercial marble pieces provided by Granite America. Led by a team from the Industrial Engineering program, this initiative aims to enhance community spaces while addressing the constraint of marble waste.

Objectives

Constraint Management: Transform the raw material of leftover stone and stone powder into an opportunity for creative and functional community use or raw material for other business like concrete. 

Throughput Increase: Enhance the rate at which value is added to the community by converting waste into assets.

Educational Opportunity: Provide students with hands-on experience in applying TOC principles in environmental and engineering challenges.

Material Source- Granite America, owned by Kartik, will supply leftover marble, which constitutes an excess inventory unable to be used in traditional commercial applications due to various imperfections.

Proposed Initiatives

Marble Benches and Tables (Operating Expense Reduction): Design durable outdoor furniture to optimize the utilization of marble inventory, reducing the operating expense by minimizing waste.

Decorative Art Installations (Throughput Enhancement): Create art installations to transform public spaces, thereby increasing community throughput by improving environmental quality and aesthetic value.

Walking Path Tiles (Constraint Utilization): Use marble slabs to upgrade walking paths, directly addressing the constraint of unused inventory while enhancing public infrastructure.

Educational Displays (Core Conflict Resolution): Develop displays to educate the public about the project’s sustainability efforts, resolving the core conflict between industrial waste and community development.

Project Phases

Identification of System Constraint: Recognize excess marble as the primary system constraint.

Exploiting the Constraint: Maximize the use of available marble without additional costs.

Subordinate Everything Else to the Decision: Ensure all project decisions aim to leverage the identified constraint.

Elevate the Constraint: Find additional ways to use leftover marble or expand the project scope.

Inertia Breaking: Implement changes and improvements based on feedback and results.

TOC Tools Used

Evaporating Cloud: Resolve dilemmas between environmental impact and material usage.

Super Injection: Propose innovative uses of marble that radically change the approach to waste.

Impact

This project will demonstrate the effective application of TOC by converting a significant constraint (marble leftovers) into a valuable resource, thereby increasing the throughput of community value creation.

Budget and Funding

While the primary material—stone—is provided at no cost, funds will be needed for processing materials, transportation, and installation. We will try seeking funds through university grants, local government support, and partnerships with environmental and community organizations. 

Conclusion

By applying the Theory of Constraints, this project not only provides aesthetic and functional enhancements to community spaces but also serves as an educational model for sustainable practices. It exemplifies how industrial constraints can be transformed into opportunities for improvement and innovation.