Andon - Factory Visual Control

Used in the manufacturing industry as part of lean management, the Andon system allows alerts to be raised against anomalies in the production process. Often physically implemented as a box or a pull line, Andon is foremost a way of alerting the manager to a problem. The nature of the alerts may vary: Delay, machine fault, non-compliant items, the team leader can take appropriate decisions to solve incidents without losing time.

Andon incident: For a better overview of alerts

In Japanese, «Andon» is a word borrowed from Japanese originally meaning paper lantern; Japanese manufacturers began to use it in quality control. The system has been installed mostly to help companies trigger incident alerts. Different systems were envisaged: Lines connected to contacters, press buttons to call a manager… Which signalled a team leader that an operation is in difficulty and that intervention is required (thanks to notifications or visual signals). This is called operator Andon: It is triggered by an operator and provides a first level alert.

Andon systems are essential for the industry. Coupled with a digital visual management solution, they become essential tools for the productivity of the company.

At KS Power Solution, we believe in a mission-based operating system that combines end-to-end digital planning and execution. With our customer’s business outcome and goals in mind, our real-time digital applications platform uses Visual Management to achieve the following.

Real-time availability management for markets, customer, and channels
Manufacturing control & machine downtime
Employee empowerment on the shop floor and warehouse
Early issue detection and rapid problem solving
Supporting Lean Operations through e.g. operational KPI dashboards (safety-quality-delivery-inventory-productivity) and promoting root cause analysis and corrective action planning
Improving execution to plan with line output screens