ANDON: From Paper Lantern to IoT
ANDON is a traditional Japanese production signal. HARDWARIO brought it into the IoT era - from the first installation at ŠKODA AUTO in 2019 to today's solution with CHESTER Push and CHESTER Counter.
Most production lines use some system for reporting the status of production. Today everything is digital, and many companies use a Production Report built on HARDWARIO’s reliable IoT solution. When needed, the operator running a machine presses a button and the shift leader can respond accordingly. This so-called production signal is known as ANDON.
Where the word came from
ANDON comes from the Japanese アンドン, あんどん, 行灯, the word for a paper lantern. It began at a Toyota factory in Japan, which faced the same need to monitor production that every company faces today.
Toyota is undoubtedly a synonym for quality, and it is no surprise that the first well-thought-out system was created in its production plant.
The operator running a machine kept a paper lantern beside it, fastened to a string, and raised it up when needed. The shift leader saw that something was happening and could react.
Today, something like that is unthinkable. A company fire-safety officer would ban such a solution, and the shift leader could not even find their way around the large halls, let alone keep the lanterns in view.
From a visual signal to a connected workflow
This is where HARDWARIO comes in, with a solution based on non-invasive production monitoring. CHESTER Push, for example, works great: it is equipped with four buttons, is fully configurable, and its data is securely transmitted to the production information system.
The shift leader no longer has to scan the hall with a hawk’s eye looking for lanterns - notifications appear directly on a computer or mobile phone.
HARDWARIO and ANDON in practice
At HARDWARIO, we introduced the solution back in mid-2019, when we deployed the first version of the ANDON system at the ŠKODA AUTO production plant.
ANDON itself can be extended with CHESTER Counter, which makes it possible to track machine takt time, to plan equipment maintenance easily, and to give the company a complete overview of the workload and efficiency of the production line.
If you are interested in monitoring your production lines, do not hesitate to contact us. We have already figured out the solution.
