Autonomation (JIDOKA) improvement in electrical device manufacturing
Shift Automation to Autonomation. Restrain useless investment, and improve productivity.
Results
Voluntary improvement activities increased, and the level of employees increased.
Cost reductions by expanding the number of lines for improvement, eliminating waste, and improving productivity
Considering production of a new product in an empty space
For one year from 2018 to 2019, we implemented autonomation (JIDOKA) improvement on the assembly line of an electrical device manufacturing plant in China.
Background
At this manufacturing plant, improvement activities throughout the plant and education for employees were enthusiastically carried out, and improvement activities were being carried out at many parts of the production line.
On the other hand, automation of assembly work was a major pillar of improving productivity of the plant.
Industry details
Electrical device manufacturing
Country
China
Company size
About 2,000 employees
Purpose
Profitability improvement
Industry
Electrical and electronic
Schedule
Factory diagnosis
Kick-off（JIDOKA Seminar）
1 year of the consulting guidance
Factory diagnosis
The shop floor diagnosis at the kick-off revealed that many wastes such as waste of storage and waste of walking were left behind since they believed that improvement for the production line, which is not automated, would not progress until they could automate it, such as introduction of automatic assembly machines.
In addition, automated lines had monitoring work, defect products, waste of walking etc., and the equipment that had been introduced was not operating as expected.
Diagnosis
They mistakenly recognize autonomation (Jidoka) as just automation.
√ They believe that they cannot improve without autonomation.
√ The original idea of autonomation is not incorporated. At the time when the defect came out, it was not found,
etc.
Kick-off
The aim of this project is to work on improvement of the production process based on the idea, “the machine will stop immediately if an abnormality occurs, and no defective product will be produced” (Toyota calls it “autonomation”).
At the kick-off, we diagnosed the shop floor with the plant manager, the person in charge of the improvement, and 10 people of the improvement team and discussed problems of the production line and themes of the improvement.
At the seminar, we considered the difference between autonomation (JIDOKA) and automation, and once again grasped the wastes of the production line in charge. The recognition of these wastes, whether automated or not, has resulted in activating improvement activities and reducing wasteful investment and improving productivity
Kick-off program
Day1 : AM/The first half of the Autonomation (JIDOKA) seminar, PM/Shop floor diagnosis of the production line
Day2 : Shop floor diagnosis of the production line
Day3 : AM/Presentation of improvement plan (direction) for each production line, PM/The second half of the Autonomation (JIDOKA) improvement seminar
Guidance content
Eliminating wastes in the manual process leads to saving wasteful investment when you introduce automation. Improvements of automated production line will maximize equipment performance and lead to improving productivity with more stable quality.
Understand waste and recognize waste.
Improvement activities at key production lines, such as manual assembly lines
Promotion of 5S
Improve storage operations etc.
JIDOKA Specialist
Hisayoshi Ishikawa
Professional Engineer (Engineering management field) / Shop floor improvement consultant
Technical consultant for production technology, quality control, equipment maintenance and reliability improvement. At the same time as improving manufacturing site, I develop human resources so that improvements can be made continuously at each manufacturing site.
Consultants from major companies with experience in over 40 countries will respond. Please feel free to contact us.
Improvement experience of more than 1,500 companies in 40 countries
There must be the shop floor issues that cannot be solved by your own company alone. Improvements and reforms for manufacturing industry to survive, regardless of country or industry, need development of your human resources through practical experiences of improvement, and strengthening of your production system base.
REASON 2
Consulting that shop floor workers acknowledge our superiority and be pleased
In conventional consulting styles, there was a distance between consultant and the shop floor because it was promoted mainly consultant and management executives. Our consultant can provide a guidance without a distance between consultant and the shop floor through the guidance based on the “seeds of improvement” in a concrete way, instead of “finding fault” like a critic.
REASON 3
Continuous improvement will continue even after the end of guidance
While strengthening “human resource development”, we focus on the “overall flow” from design to purchasing, manufacturing, logistics, and production control, and provide guidance that matches the actual situation of your company. Continuous improvement will continue even after the end of guidance through the guidance that is acceptable to the shop floor workers.
Consultants from major companies with experience in over 40 countries will respond. Please feel free to contact us.
