Conditions for survival in the manufacturing industry in VUCA era
Satoru Murakami
CEO Goal-System consultants Inc.,
What is a giant's shoulder? -Following the history of manufacturing(3)
Leveling and Autonomation-Just-in-time prerequisites
Last time, I talked about the process of establishing a mechanism (Ford system) specialized for T-type Ford production, which was built by Henry Ford and others.
This time, let's think about the Toyota Production System, which was established based on the Ford system.
Toyota, which was forced to switch from the munitions industry to civilian demand after Japan lost the Pacific War (WWII), completed the long-awaited small passenger car Toyota SA type and put it on the market in 1947. However, the cash flow was difficult and he had a huge debt from the Japan Finance Corporation.
In 1950, financial tightening occurred due to the influence of the global recession, and the financing of refinancing stopped, leading to a business crisis. In order to survive this business crisis, Toyota will carry out rationalization (restructuring) and thoroughly produce only the quantity that can be sold without fail. It is no exaggeration to say that the lessons learned from this business crisis have determined Toyota's corporate structure to enhance the "cash conversion cycle."
"Toyota Production System (TPS)" is a general term for operations management (management technology) developed by Ohno et al. For the troublesome characteristics of production sites dominated by dependence and variation. The prototype is the concept of synchronous production, in which "when and as much as needed" is supplied.
A more concrete example of this idea is the "Kanban method," in which the post-process goes to the pre-process to get what is needed in the required amount. In factories that handle products that require tens of thousands of types of parts, such as automobiles, it is necessary to supply parts when needed and to produce them efficiently.
And TPS has two pillars, "autonomation" and "just-in-time". Toyota will thoroughly implement an autonomation approach to improve and reduce the "variation" itself. This is similar to Ford's introduction of F. Taylor's Scientific Management (IE), which thoroughly standardized and subdivided the work.
Just-in-time means making "what you need, when you need it, as much as you need", and a mechanism called "Kanban method" is built. This method is also known as the "supermarket method", and the card with the product name and product number, which was used in supermarkets, was applied to the production site, and the card (Kanban) with important information was incorporated. Therefore, it came to be called "Kanban method".
In the Kanban method, a "supermarket" that has the necessary inventory in the required amount is regarded as the "pre-process" of production, and customers who come to buy products are regarded as the "post-process". Actually, the mechanism that the post-process receives the parts of A and replenishes and produces the A that was handed over in the pre-process will be executed by using "pick-up kanban" and "device kanban".
In order to achieve just-in-time, it is essential to level production. Production leveling is the averaging of production volume, type, time, etc., which can eliminate production variations. On the other hand, if there are variations in production volume and working hours, it will be far from just-in-time, delays will occur, and man-hours will be wasted.
There are two types of leveling, "quantity" and "type", and leveling of "quantity" means making the production volume as constant as possible within a certain period of time. Type leveling means that when producing multiple varieties, the production is not carried out for each variety at once, but as separate as possible. If leveling is not achieved, problems such as play (waste) in personnel (man-hours), production of inventories that are not used immediately, and prolonged manufacturing lead times will occur. In addition, if the fluctuation is too large, the supplier who supplies the parts will not be able to respond, leading to delays in parts delivery and price increases. The cost increase naturally affects the procurement side, so it is essential to equalize with the cooperation of both the ordering side and the supplier.
In this way, Toyota will make efforts to realize a balanced line that does not cause bottlenecks through efforts for improvement and leveling through automation. Specifically, we worked to reduce variations (improve reliability) by "improving" work and processes, and to "level" manufacturing from orders in which manufacturing and sales are linked.
In addition, a "Kanban method" was devised as a "mechanism to prevent over-making", and a brake was built in to prevent over-making in a multi-product mixed flow line, which means that it should not be made unless instructed by Kanban. In addition, in order to further promote leveling, sales leveling was also required, and strong sales force was also required. Even today, manufactures of Toyota and sells of Toyota, are still leading Toyota as the two wheels of a car.
Next, let's take a look at what the TOC's turn was, and what kind of mechanism it was to replace the Kanban that Taiichi Ohno and others had built.
