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manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

, andon () is a system which notifies managerial, maintenance, and other workers of a

quality Quality may refer to: Concepts *Quality (business), the ''non-inferiority'' or ''superiority'' of something *Quality (philosophy), an attribute or a property *Quality (physics), in response theory *Energy quality, used in various science discipli ...

process A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic. Things called a process include: Business and management * Business process, activities that produce a specific s ...

problem. The alert can be activated manually by a worker using a pullcord or button or may be activated automatically by the production equipment itself. The system may include a means to pause production so the issue can be corrected. Some modern alert systems incorporate audio alarms, text, or other displays; stack lights are among the most commonly used. “Andon” is a

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

from Japanese, originally meaning ''paper lantern''; Japanese manufacturers began its quality-control usage.

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An andon system is one of the principal elements of the Jidoka

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

method pioneered by Toyota as part of the

Toyota Production System The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises its management philosophy and practices. The TPS is a management system that organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile ...

and therefore now part of the lean production approach. The andon cord is commonly understood as a single-pull system used to stop the production line immediately when a problem arises. However, at Toyota—where the concept originated—the process is more nuanced. Toyota’s traditional andon system often involves two distinct pulls: the first pull serves as a request for help, alerting the team leader without stopping the line. This gives the leader time to assess and resolve the issue. If the issue can be resolved, a second pull is made, which keeps the line moving along. Otherwise, the line will stop. Since 2014, Toyota is slowly replacing the andon cord with "andon button" as it can be operated wirelessly and reduce the clutter mess of tangling cables in production floor which leads to avoidance of tripping incidents in production floor. It gives workers the ability, and moreover the empowerment, to stop production when a defect is found, and immediately call for assistance. Common reasons for manual activation of the andon are: * Part shortage * Defects created or found * Tools/machines malfunction * Existence of a safety problem. All work in production line is stopped until a solution has been found. The alerts may be logged to a database so that they can be studied as part of a

continual improvement process A continual improvement process, also often called a continuous improvement process (abbreviated as CIP or CI), is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. These efforts can seek "incrementalism, incremental" improvement ove ...

. Once the problem is troubleshot and fixed, a second pull of the andon cord authorizes the production to be resumed. The system typically indicates where the alert was generated, and may also provide a description of the issue. Modern andon systems can include text, graphics, or audio elements. Audio alerts may be done with coded tones, music with different tunes corresponding to the various alerts, or prerecorded verbal messages.

History

The concept/process of giving a non-management (production line) worker the authority to stop the production line because of a suspected quality issue is often attributed to

W. Edwards Deming William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an American business theorist, composer, economist, industrial engineer, management consultant, statistician, and writer. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later ...

and others who developed what became

Kaizen is a Japanese concept in business studies which asserts that significant positive results may be achieved due the cumulative effect of many, often small (and even trivial), improvements to all aspects of a company's operations. Kaizen is put ...

after World War II. Many attribute Japan's rise from wartime ashes to the world's second largest economy (the

Japanese economic miracle The Japanese economic miracle () refers to a period of economic growth in the post–World War II Japan. It generally refers to the period from 1955, around which time the per capita gross national income of the country recovered to pre-war leve ...

) to their post-war industrial innovations: * Better design of products to improve service * Higher level of uniform product quality * Improvement of product testing in the workplace and in research centers * Greater sales through side lobalmarkets

References

{{reflist, refs= Liker, Jeffrey (2004) "The Toyota Way" New York:McGraw Hill {{ISBN, 0-07-139231-9 Robert J. Everett & Amrik S. Sohal, (1991) "Individual Involvement and Intervention in Quality Improvement Programmes: Using the Andon System", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 8 Iss: 2
Accessed 5 December 2014 Japanese business terms Lean manufacturing Manufacturing in Japan Toyota Production System

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History

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References