Andon Industrial Production Line Monitoring

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Andon Industrial Production Line Monitoring System

Solution Overview

Andon is an integrated computer system for signaling, visualisation and reporting of events occuring at manufacturing line.

It provides instant, visible and audible warning to the operations team that there is an abnormality within that area.

Jidoka Quality Control Process

Jidoka is Japanese term also known as "autonomation" ("automation with a human element") and refers to principle of stopping work immediately, when a problem occurs.

Andon system is one of the elements that make up the principle of Jidoka. It is a technical installation supporting execution of four-step process of abnormality handling:

Detect the abnormality.
Stop.
Fix or correct the immediate condition.
Investigate the root cause and install a countermeasure.

For JIT - Just-in-time - systems, it is absolutely vital to produce with zero defects, or else these defects can disrupt the production process - or the orderly flow of work.

JIT and Lean Manufacturing are always searching for targets for continuous improvement in its quest for quality improvements, finding and eliminating the causes of problems so they do not continually crop up.

Jidoka involves the automatic detection of errors or defects during production. When a defect is detected the halting of the production forces immediate attention to the problem.

The halting causes losing production but it is believed that this helps to detect a problem earlier and avoids the spread of bad practices.

What an Andon System does

Allows timely corrective actions by alerting personnel when abnormal conditions occur.
Allows team leaders to spend less time and effort monitoring the situation, and more time solving abnormalities.
Allows operation teams to monitor equipment and personnel more effectively.
It can act as a two way communication device e.g. when indicator returns to green; this tells everybody it has "back to normal".

Direct Benefits of Andon

Control of the production.
Operators have the ability to "stop call wait".
Defect reportability & correction, operators can report faults immediately and countermeasures can be implemented at source.
Workable design highlights problems with work density.

Key Features

Signalling Abnormalities
Machine operators can signal events occuring at their working places by pressing one of buttons located at Andon terminal.
Notification Messages
Andon sends notifications about events using various messaging systems and according to defined notification rules.
Visualisation & Monitoring
Actual status of production line is shown at electronic lightboard, additionally each terminal is equiped with programmable visual and sound signals. Status can be monitored from outside of production yard by using web-based interface.
Recording
All events are recorded into system's database for further processing, analysis, and production quality measures.

Installations

Pratt & Whitney Kalisz manufactures components for gas & turbine engines of Pratt & Whitney Canada Inc – a worldwide leader of small power engines. Its sole shareholder is Pratt & Whitney Canada Inc., which makes the Kalisz company a part of United Technologies Corporation (UTC).