In Part 2, the discussion moved to the Fujisawa Plant which manufactures Precision Machinery Company's product. The Fujisawa Plant is home to the V7 Building, a state-of-the-art facility built on the concept of automation. Some of the members of this roundtable discussion led the project to launch the V7 Building. Referring to that topic, they talked about the evolution and future of monozukuri.
Nishiyama (Fujisawa): A planning for the V7 Building began in 2017, and operations began in March 2020. The concept was automation, with the ultimate goal to be able to automate production even during the middle of the night. We wanted to reduce relying on human labor as much as possible.
Oshima (Fujisawa): The company already started working on automated production. In 2022, we tried to run the plant unmanned, not only at night, but also on holidays. We started planning at the beginning of the year and it went successful.
Nakayama (Fujisawa): Automation is supported by IoT and data linkage technologies. A system is connected from the stage when sales orders are received, to the subsequent production plan and to the production site. The major point is that we achieved "connected production" through systematization.
Nishiyama (Fujisawa): Our future goal is to make even more effective use of data accumulated through IoT. Currently, we still can’t say that we are using the data maximally. That said, we wanted to establish various data collection mechanisms with the installation of equipment. We didn't want to delay the introduction just because we couldn't use the data yet. We can see how to make the most of the data while actually using it. In that sense, it was good that we introduced it early.
Yuji Nishiyama (Fujisawa)
Furukawa (Sodegaura): What I found amazing was that I hardly saw anyone working on a grinder. Usually, there are people using a grinder to apply the finishing touches. But, there are so few here. Most of the finishing is done by machines, right?
Kazami (Sodegaura): The V7 Building has very few people. This is what the future looks like. Although our plant and the products we produce are different, we can get an idea from here.
Watanabe (Futtsu): Although the size of the products we manufacture is different, how we manage is common. I want to incorporate the ideas that will work.
Oshima (Fujisawa): Of course, it makes the work easier. If production can be done automatically during the night and on weekends, people can take a break. It should also be easier to take paid leave. As I mentioned earlier, we tried to run the plant unattended in the V7 building. The plant workers wanted to take paid leave in a way not to affect our production plans.
Nishiyama (Fujisawa): Besides improving the way to work, I think there are other benefits to automation. For example, it should enable the plant to flexibly change its production numbers. The Fujisawa Plant manufactures semiconductor-related products, but demand for semiconductors fluctuates wildly depending on the time of year. Even in our plant, production numbers are constantly increasing or decreasing. If there’s a lot of work that relies on people, such fluctuations have to be managed by the same number of people. On the other hand, if automation can reduce human-dependent work, it will be easier to increase or decrease production.
Nakayama (Fujisawa): In the past, there were fewer women in our processes, but now more than half of the workers in some processes are women. In the future, we want to continue building production lines where diverse people can work, regardless of their gender or age.
Maeda (Futtsu): My idea of the ideal plant is that anyone, from the youngest to the most experienced, male or female, can assemble the products. If we create simplified manuals and procedures for this purpose, our productivity will increase. That's why we now want to convert tacit knowledge such as technology and skills into data that anyone can work on production.
Nishiyama (Fujisawa): The ideal way is to eliminate dependence on humans, and create production lines that anyone can operate. However, we still need the skills of the people on site, otherwise we can’t control these lines. I don’t want anyone to misunderstand this point.
Furukawa (Sodegaura): It's important to pursue automation and efficiency, but at the same time, if workers don't learn the technology, they won’t have the know-how to take actions when something irregular happens. For example, we play an important role in properly adjusting older types of machines. That requires experience and knowledge of people. At Ebara, we believe it is our value that we can responsibly handle even old items.
In the past, I used to learn a lot from my seniors over drinks after work. The style has been changing now, so we have to devise new ways to do it.
Koji Furukawa (Sodegaura)
Watanabe (Futtsu): There used to be a vocational training school at Ebara. It lasted until 1975, and its last graduates reached retirement age in 2019. Back then, people learned their skills while also picking up know-how from their seniors in the hierarchical relationships within the school. Now we have to come up with other ways. I think digital and IT can be used here as well. For example, a database of technology and knowledge could be compiled and made available on-demand at onsite. We will consider to create such a system.
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Suda: Our role and responsibility as manufacturers is to create actual products using our advanced technology and monozukuri skills. That's why it was good to hear the real voices of those working hard onsite. Could you give us a message about the future of Ebara’s monozukuri?
Kazunori Suda（Head of Marketing）
Nakayama (Fujisawa): If you are in Ebara, I hope you’ll take up the challenge anyway. Ebara does a variety of things, from large to small manufacturing, and from one-of-a-kind products to mass production. It is a company where it’s easy to find what we want to do, and I think we should challenge ourselves more and more. There are also lots of people who encourage us to take on such challenges.
Nishiyama (Fujisawa): I hope that our monozukuri evolves by integrating the experience and know-how of long-time Ebara employees as well as those who have joined the company mid-career. For us, the experience of mid-career hires is really valuable. They have different perspectives and experiences from what we have seen. In that sense, every newcomer at Ebara, whether a new graduate or a mid-career, is important for making us stronger. I hope all kinds of people will come here to work.
Shunji Kazami (Sodegaura)
[Part 1] Discussing the “Passion and Dedication” of people who take on monozukuri (manufacturing). The relentless pursuit of precision.
Yuji Nishiyama (Machining Technology)
Precision Machinery Company
Koji Furukawa (Assembly Technology)
Ebara Elliott Turbomachinery Corporation
Shunji Kazami (Machining Technology)
Ebara Elliott Turbomachinery Corporation
Read the cross-talk here