Andon – the automation solution is used in Lean manufacturing

The application of lean production has proved remarkable effects, from the famous companies in the world to the factories in Vietnam. Today, the application of technology to manufacturing will bring high efficiency, ensuring the improvement of production efficiency. The andon solution will assist in improving leanness in the factory and manufacturing line through automation of monitoring and alerts, minimizing machine and labor downtime, quality status, productivity optimization, product defect mitigation, inventory and waste.

Lean uses the processes and tools to help control and optimize, reducing waste, reducing time, improving productivity, and supporting timely and timely quality control. The application of technology into these processes makes the operation smooth, fast, accurate and efficient. And Andon is one of those apps.

Andon is a concept initiated by Toyota, and has since become an indispensable component of Lean Manufacturing. Andon is a system that provide continuous monitoring, notification, and instant warning of problems in the manufacturing progress, from incidents to maintenance or human and material requirements, quality status…to enhance control, improve efficiency, quality and cost optimization by optimizing machine and worker capacity.

With continuous monitoring and warning, when an incident occurs or there are support requirements, the andon system automatically activates and informs the relevant department. For example, when the machine encounters a malfunction, the system will notify the maintenance request immediately through the monitor at the Maintenance Department as well as the hall / The location of the error, the message on the optional sound system, and the location of the fault will have a flashing tower lamp with the corresponding color of the fault to indicate to the maintenance officer that it is rapidly approaching. and handle.

In the production process, situations such as exhaustion of raw materials, products are full of baskets … workers can deliver the request immediately, call the logistics department to supply supplies, transfer the goods to the the next stage. The andon system will also provide a fault-tolerant feature at each moment to quickly capture, control the fault condition and have a timely response. The quality status is visually displayed with the color scheme of the lamp system with the set of lamp colors representing the level of quality of the corresponding condition. For example the error rate in the allowable range, the light will show blue, otherwise, if the error rate exceeds the allowed level, the light will show yellow or red depending on the set threshold. Through colored lights, workers in immediate locations to know and have a remedial, management or quality control department easily have instant information as well as appropriate treatment plans.

All information from the device system will be collected and stored by the andon software, centrally managing operational status, allowing managers to view reports of operating status, quality of each line, each shift, each workshop or each worker. The software also provides graphs showing the variability of indicators over time, showing trends in improvement of incident conditions, material supply or quality control in production.

During the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the application of automation technology to production and business is an indispensable trend. And Andon Systems is an indispensable component of Lean Manufacturing, helping businesses optimize production, minimize costs, ensure quality and schedule, improve labor productivity, improve competitiveness. and promote sustainable development.