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What is e-Kanban? and how it is useful?

What is E-kanban?

E-Kanban is one of the Lean tools designed to reduce the idle time in a production process. The main idea behind the system is to deliver what the process needs exactly when it needs it. In Japanese, the word “Kan” means “visual” and “ban” means “card,” so Kanban refers to visual cards.

In manufacturing infrastructure, the warehouse needs to be tightly integrated with the factory or shop floor, raw materials need to flow into the shop floor quickly as required; finished goods need to flow out. To manage this operation this system plays a major role in streamlining this inventory process between the shop floor and warehouse team.

When there are also frequent complaints about delivery problems, the reality is quite distant from the theory. Poor implementation of kanban is quickly overcome in an e-kanban environment.

How it is useful?

E-kanban focuses specifically on centralizing and managing all of the mission-critical data. Real-time transaction capture and tracking build a repository of information, ripe for process improvement analysis. Allowing an e-kanban system to handle and manage the collation and reporting of this data helps to remove the element of human error prevalent within a manual kanban system

This system manufacturing is an inventory organization structure that uses visual cues to move inventory through various stages of the manufacturing process. It is a tool for lean manufacturing that aims to prevent inventory pileup by initiating production only to restock empty reserves

It is one of the Lean tools designed to reduce the idle time in a production process. The system allows the operator from the line or station to raise material request digitally directly to the warehouse department through which the warehouse team get the request and delivered the goods at the line system quickly.

It can be used to speed up the material request and delivery time in order to improve productivity and reducing the lead time.

Using this system helped Toyota drastically reduce waste by streamlining its inventory management. Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, and other Kanban principles and practices that came from it, spread throughout automotive manufacturing and into other industries.

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Andon System? and how it Works?

Andon:

There are many ways to use the Andon system in Lean manufacturing and in several other global industries such as Chemical Industries, Automotive industries, Oil and gas industries, FMCG, Manufacture and process industries, Electronic industries, Aerospace industries Pharmaceutical industries and food & beverage industries etc.,

Regardless of where it’s being used, the only way Andon works is if you truly empower operators to use it. This means giving operators not only the permission but the obligation to stop the line when issues arise.

Employees, especially in manufacturing, are hesitant to stop the line because of the cost of downtime or for fear of being wrong

In manufacturing premises, it is important to have a visual and audible response tool such as Andon system in order to reduce the production downtime.

This system act as visual and audio alarm raised by the operator in order to alert the maintenance department. There will be an Andon Monitor where it will display the machine or system with colour coding i.e., Red defined as Issue, Yellow as Issue acknowledged and Green defined as Ready

The Andon system in Lean manufacturing takes the position that stopping work at the moment will save the organization from major and costly issues in the future.

The Andon system in Lean manufacturing also requires a plan for resolving the issue. Who will be the team that gathers to perform the root cause analysis and apply the solution? Given that this can occur at any moment, knowing the players ahead of time will increase the speed of resolution. If operators are left waiting around after raising the issue in Andon system, they will be less likely to pull it in the future because the cost will seemingly outweigh the benefit

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Andon Meaning and Benefits?

Andon meaning:

Andon in Lean manufacturing is a system designed to alert operators and managers of problems in real-time so that corrective measures can be taken immediately. It is part of the Lean Manufacturing process. It is important to understand the reason for it to fully reveal all the possibilities of the Andon systems.

Lean Manufacturing is about eliminating waste all along the production line. It can be a waste of time, stock or capacity. Coupled with Kaizen tools and techniques, it allows the company to better manage its resources for better productivity.

The main purpose of Andon is to improve the flow of information in case of problems. All factories have problems that may delay or stop production (yes, even Toyota). So, in order to streamline the issue raising and tracking process ANDON give the right solution to track the issue and improving the efficiency.

It works in two principles:

Andon alerts the human that there is a problem
The Andon allows the human to stop a process and prevent the defect from continuing down the line

Andon in Lean manufacturing is a system designed to alert operators and managers of problems in real-time so that corrective measures can be taken immediately.

In lean manufacturing, Andon refers to any visual display that shows status information on the plant floor.

Benefits of Andon

The visual representation of difficulties allows for a better understanding of the situation by decreasing and minimizing the waste associated with locating information or breakdowns that result in the shutdown of the production line.
Andon gives maintenance teams and management more control over the production chain by anticipating and forecasting problems.
In order to build and sustain effective management systems, information about the production chain’s operation must flow from the lowest levels of the organization’s hierarchy to decision-making positions. They will have a better understanding of how the production chain works as a result of this.

Do you want to implement Andon?

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What is Traceability in Manufacturing

Traceability solution in manufacturing companies helps to trace the raw materials and equipment’s used in the production or assembly area, to clarify “when and where the product was produced by whom.” This system gives the complete chain of data of the raw-materials or sub-assembly used in the production for making the product from the moment when raw materials enter the factory to the moment when final products are shipped.

Information on each part and product, including inspection results, assembly details and time spent at each station, is recorded from end-to-end.

To ensure transparency and accountability throughout the production process, traceability with direct part marking or applying barcode provides a documented trail of each product, its history, components, quality, and safety. It proves that products meet certain standards or comply with industry regulations

As the demand of Safety and Quality increase in manufacturing arena the traceability uses have increases very rapidly. In order to have proper safety and delivering quality product the tracking and tracing is most important in manufacturing facility.

It helps to monitor the operation flow, quantities of raw material used, time spent by the operator at each work station to do the product activity and also the overall productivity of the plant.

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What is Digital Work Instruction

At a time when everything tends to be digitized in the world of industry, work instructions cannot escape this transformation.

What are the reasons you should use digital work Instructions?

Manufacturing companies face many challenges today, manufacturing industry is moving in fast paced and became competitive. If manufacturing fails to adopt modern high-tech technology and good practices, they are bound to hit a development. This led to high turnover costs, expensive quality control, and a reduction in productivity.

Digitizing your work instructions is the key to modern manufacturing in Industry 4.0. With the ability to standardize processes and collect pertinent data, digital work instructions provide the tools necessary to achieve your smart manufacturing goals.

By digitizing your work instructions, your company can take a big step forward into Industry 4.0.

What is Digital Work Instruction

Digital work Instructions collects information from multiple production sources and provide it in one simple, unified view so your operators can quickly make data-driven decisions

It explains the best way to complete a specific procedure. They translate procedures into a human-centred way of working that allows any employee on the shop floor to complete the task at hand in efficient way which will be driven to a paperless work.

Digital work Instructions also helps user to access the job instruction and information with just a swipe of a tablet or system to the point of use on a specific area and production line, helping to reduce downtime.

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Benefits of Digital Work Instruction

Boost Your productivity and manufacturing through Digital work instruction:

Paper-based work instructions are considered as old fashion and require improvement because they are less susceptible to support productivity. Then, how to create work instructions efficiently?

It is much more practical for an operator to read work instructions and collect field-data by viewing a visual and interactive document via software than a lot of instructions written on paper. This visualization is particularly helpful for complex procedures and for those which the slightest mistake, due to a wrong understanding, can have serious consequences and constraints for industrial production.

Digital work instructions contribute to build more efficient production line and thus, increase and improve productivity.

Less errors, more quality

Digital work instructions are more accurate; They are made to make operators succeed, without making any mistakes on the first time.

Paperless work instructions decrease the number of errors. Therefore, eliminated errors help save time and resources.

Easy to Use and Follow

Another key reason you should use digital work instructions is that they are so easy to use.

Digital work instructions are a fast and easy solution as they enable employees to quickly comprehend and execute complex tasks.

Changeover times will be reduced through Digitalization of work instructions

Changeovers are key operations, but which slows down the production and the the product life cycle. For example the machine, on which we operate to make changes (mould, jig, tool…) and adjustments, cannot be used in production during that time. For this reason, unnecessary tasks are identified more easily in the work instructions, which, once free of those sources of error, defect and slowness become more efficient.

Thanks to the process of digital work instructions, operators can realize simple tasks as the level 1 maintenance which is usually made by the maintenance department and thereby save time during changeovers.