In fact, without providing clear information and indicators, the autonomy of involved teams in a lean approach will remain a dead letter. And if this information is not updated in real time, or not accessible to the entire team, it’s the agility needed for lean that takes a hit.

In other words, not only is visual management the cornerstone of any lean project, but this visual management gains enormously in digitizing itself: digital allows you to collect and reconcile often heterogeneous and scattered data, to automate their updating, and display them on the most suitable media (such as our wallboards). It remains to be seen how to implement this digital visual management.

In advance: test visual management via a POC

You don’t revolutionize your team’s management methods and supports with a magic wand. On a subject where the human factor is by definition primordial, and where benefits and impacts are difficult to anticipate, it is better to move forward in “project” mode. Then get things back on track, keep what works and get rid of false good ideas.

This is precisely what a POC (Proof of Concept) allows. Flexible and limited in time, a POC is indeed intended to test “in vivo” an idea on a small scope. Then learn from it before generalizing the experience, reviewing it… or abandoning it without damage.

In the context of a visual management project, clearly defining your POC will require choices on:

• its objectives: what information, process, parts of the team’s work will be sought to make them flow better
• its expected results: how to measure POC’s success (or failure)
• its timing: in general, 3 to 4 months will be enough to learn lessons

For more information, we invite you to read our article about the digital POC. What’s next? It will take place in 6 steps.

Step 1 : build your team

This is a crucial but delicate step. By nature, a lean approach involves breaking silos between services, thus integrating as many stakeholders as possible. On the other hand, a multiplicity of viewpoints will allow you to ensure the relevance of visual management that will emerge from your POC.

But the temptation to include as many interlocutors as possible will be a hindrance to the successful progress of the project. Building a small but representative “task force” of people involved in the project is therefore the key. At a minimum, we can consider that your team will have to include:

• a project leader
• a representative of the business line directly concerned
• a representative of IT
• an internal communication professional

Nothing prevents the organization of intermediate points with a slightly wider public, to collect their feedback. Finally, having a “sponsor” on the management committee or executive committee will also be a plus when it comes to deploying visual management on a larger scale…

Step 2 : identify the challenges of your visual management

C’est avec cette équipe projet, et de façon collaborative, que vous allez ensuite affiner vos objectifs. Que cherchez-vous à It’s with this project team, and collaboratively, that you will then refine your objectives. What are you trying to achieve with visual management?

• Display the right information to employees?
• Push the KPIs analysis further and trigger activity alerts?
• Manage processes and workflow to achieve operational excellence?

Simply informative or completely interactive: there are indeed different degrees in visual management. It is up to you and your employees to determine how far your ambitions go – under the POC and beyond.

This second step is even more structuring than the first one. Because depending on the objectives pursued, the type of data and the form in which they are presented will vary considerably. In the same industrial context, a warning system such as Andon or process control such as Kamishibai represent completely different approaches. And there are many other possibilities…

Step 3 : identify your KPIs (and sort them!)

This is of course the key moment of your POC: without data, no key performance indicator (KPI), and therefore no visual management. The first step will therefore be to determine which indicators are essential, interesting and optional for the future of the project. Depending on targeted audience, monitored activity, and frequency of data updates, you will already have a good idea of this first sort.

Because that’s what sort is all about: beyond 5 indicators per screen, the screen will become unreadable. Even if digital technology makes it possible to design deeper visual management systems (with second screens, zooms, links, etc), simplicity is always the best policy.

Next operations? Define at the same time:

• files, databases and other applications where the data necessary for the construction of your indicators is stocked
• the available flows, or the connections you will need to establish to get them back: API, Web-services…

Scope is extremely broad (the presence of a member of IT team in your POC takes on its full meaning…): the needs of our clients range from office equipment (Office, Google site) to project management applications (Trello, Slack) and ERP (SAP), via helpdesks or database managers software (Mysql, Oracle).

If you want to know more about the choice of KPIs, and the organization of visual management, take a look at our video of Caisse d’Epargne Hauts-de-France’s return of experience:

Step 4 : design your visual management screen

Qui dit management visuel dit mise en forme. Et qui dit digital dit forcément écran. Le design de l’écran qui va constituer le Visual management means shaping. And digital necessarily means screen. Design of the screen that will constitute the “media” of your management plays a crucial role in the success of your POC. And it is especially at this time that inviting a “Mr. (or Mrs) Communication” into your working group will prove very useful.

Objectives of this step during which it will be to make your visual management system as attractive as it is effective:

• Avoid over-information
• Provide visual information animation conditions
• Think about ergonomics and interactions if you choose a touch screen for example

From the choice of visual formats (histograms or pie charts, simple numbers or even traffic lights) to the choice of font, action buttons, colors… It’s a real designer job waiting for you on this step. Work that you must carry out with the desired type of screen in mind: touch-sensitive or not? Arranged in portrait, landscape or swiveling?

Step 5 : choose the right display points

Misplaced, the most beautiful screen in the world won’t do you much good… Beyond its design and the information it provides, the choice of its location will be truly strategic.

How to choose it right? First, based on the targeted audience: its places of passage, work, break… Is it a single-site team or scattered? Then according to the rhythm of the activity you want to “monitor” thanks to visual management: is one screen enough? Some? Much more than that?

In some cases, a single screen in a “control room” type Obeya will amply be enough. In others, it will be necessary to invest several common areas or office floors, etc. A final point to take into account: the size of the screen(s) chosen, so that it is both visible and can be easily used by your teams.

Step 6 : take stock… and iterate to generalize visual management

Has your POC come to an end? This is just the beginning… After a few weeks of use, it will be time to take stock of this project. And this in several dimensions:

• What works (and works less well) in the visual management set up: what information is missing, is too much, is poorly presented…
• What worked (or didn’t) during the project. At what steps can we save time or did we go too fast? What skills did you lack in your task force?
• What is generalizable (or not). Can this POC serve as a basis for another project in the company, or even in your department? What have you learned What needs to be improved, kept, abandoned… ?

Production lines active more than 90% of the time, a constantly decreasing takt time, fewer overtime hours… and an increasingly peaceful atmosphere: at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, the results of the efforts undertaken in terms of operational excellence are spectacular.

The explanation? A continuous improvement approach that has made it possible to anticipate problems and resolve them (much) more quickly, throughout the production chain.

The Chantiers de l’Atlantique, cradle of the giants of the seas

Normandy, France, Queen Mary 2, Harmony of the Seas… These famous giants of the sea were assembled in Saint-Nazaire, in the workshops of the Chantiers de l’Atlantique. Since 1862, the company has become a benchmark in the construction of ocean liners, but also of military vessels and, more recently, offshore wind turbines. These are all markets in which demand is very strong, and where production is therefore constantly under pressure.

The cabin production unit: 5 takt and cadenced lines

About ten kilometers from the main site, a smaller unit (26,000 square meters and 350 operators, all the same…) specializes in the prefabrication of cabins, which are then loaded and finished on board cruise ships.

In this workshop, 5 production lines, operated and running at pace, allow the assembly of various cabin models (crew, standard, family, for people with reduced mobility, etc.) and their sanitary blocks, at an average rate of 2,000 to 2,500 cabins per ship. Each liner occupies this production unit for a period of 4 to 6 months.

On the lines, lean objective!

“The first observation we can make,” explains Aurélien Caillaud, “is that our lines have no work in progress: we are permanently in a pull flow mode. As a result, the slightest problem at one of the 20 stations on each line will cause a stoppage, and block the 70 operators who work there.”

To resolve an incident as soon as it occurs, Chantiers de l’Atlantique has set up teams:

• "flyers" (on the production side), operators that team leaders or line managers will send to reinforce workstations under pressure,
• rapid replenishers on the logistics side, responsible for supplying spare parts to workstations that request them.

But this organization alone is not enough. For several years, Aurélien Caillaud, lean engineer at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, and his predecessor François Robic before him, have therefore called on Pingflow to implement tools that allow the effective adoption of methods from lean management (Andon and Yo-I-Don) to manage and optimize cabin assembly lines. The objectives?

• Obtain a precise, real-time overview of the status of each production line:
• Identify workstations under pressure as early as possible and provide the most efficient, timely solution;
• Synchronize workstations and schedule lines so that everyone starts and finishes their tasks at the same time;
• Finally, streamline intra-team communication, as well as communication between production and logistics.

A project carried out in two phases: first on the production lines, then on logistics supply.

2019-2020: heading towards the production andon

The initial observation: numerous and costly line shutdowns

In the context of pull production, there are always hazards: before starting its collaboration with Pingflow, the cabin workshop suffered an average of one hour of downtime per day.

Added to these incidents was the problem of line changes (a new type of cabin was entering production). Between two batches, the line shutdown and restart time was also one hour. Added together, these delays could have a significant impact on the production rate, and therefore the delivery of the liner at the end of the line.

Pingflow's response: digital andon alert from operator stations

Pingflow's response: digital andon alert from operator stations

With the help of Pingflow, each workstation has been equipped with a tablet which allows the operator to bring up information such as:

• the end of his work,
• a blocking incident,
• or a non-blocking incident.

These incidents are immediately transmitted by SMS and email to team leaders, and displayed on large monitors located at strategic locations throughout the workshop to disseminate real-time information on the status of activity. The interventions and reinforcements needed to resolve the incident and restart production arrive more quickly, and all line activity is monitored more closely.

In the back office, the entire system is connected to the ERP in order to provide the forecast production “film” for the day and to a web interface which allows:

• Upstream, configure work schedules, user profiles, and contact information;
• Downstream, visualize incidents in the form of logs and graphs and create a history for quality analysis.

Spectacular first results

Deployed in 2019, this first andon “brick” allowed the cabin workshop to record more than convincing results:

• Downtime reduced by a factor of three… and more: from one hour per day, the workshop went down to 20, then 10 minutes per day;
• Ever more efficient lines: from 80% of working time, the production unit went up to 90-95%;
• A significant reduction in overtime (often necessary to "complete" the week's production), of around 10%.

Bet won? Except that Chantiers de l’Atlantique didn’t intend to stop there…

2021: a step further with logistics andon

Because after streamlining the resolution of production incidents, the teams realized that 80% of the remaining line shutdowns were linked to non-compliant parts: damaged sanitary block elements, degraded parts, etc.

Historically, an operator faced with a defective part had to fill out a non-conformity form by hand and send it to the rapid replenishment teams so that they could retrieve the spare part from stock, transport it to the workstation in question, and close this “ticket”. A cumbersome, time-consuming process… and therefore eminently optimizable!

Especially since it generated significant tensions between the production and logistics teams, “who passed the buck during this type of incident,” observes Aurélien Caillaud. One of the unquantifiable but very real benefits of implementing the production andon with Pingflow was precisely a clear gain in serenity in the workshop: operators now know that the incident they reported has been properly identified and is being resolved. We wanted our replenishment teams, who are by nature subject to urgency and stress, to also benefit from more peaceful working conditions.”

A new process co-designed with the teams concerned

To resolve this problem, Aurélien Caillaud first listened to the “field” and gathered the teams’ irritants…

• … production: forms too long to fill out, replenishers unreachable, replenishment too slow, causing line interruptions;
• … logistics: forms incorrectly completed or illegible, too much time spent on the phone, impossible to organize and concentrate on one's route;
• … quality: non-conformity reports untraceable and unusable.

Not easy, especially in the context of these workshops:

• Very large (26,000 m²), therefore with long delivery times
• with numerous references (3,000 per cabin), therefore complex replenishments
• increasingly frequent, with a takt time divided by 1.5 over the last 5 years (it has gone from 30 to 19-20 minutes on average)

From 100% paper to 100% digital: a 100% efficient logistics system

It is thanks to this field listening phase that Aurélien Caillaud was able to deploy with Pingflow an andon logistics system adapted to the needs of his internal “customers” in the three production, logistics and quality divisions, which he demonstrates to you himself.

Find Aurélien Caillaud’s full testimony on the collaboration between Pingflow and Chantiers de l’Atlantique in our webinar replay

Speed, productivity, serenity: green indicators!

By digitizing this entire alert process, and eliminating the paperwork and irritants in the replenishment process, Chantiers de l'Atlantique has once again observed enormous productivity gains:

• On the speed of operations, with a replenishment time reduced by more than half: from 33 minutes previously, we are now down to 12-13 minutes on average;
• On securing takt time: these express replenishment times leave a margin on the current cycle, which is already significantly reduced;
• On the efficiency of the lines overall: from 700 minutes of downtime per month, the workshop has reduced it to 200-250 minutes;
• On quality monitoring, teams now have a real dashboard allowing them to identify and measure deviations by supplier, by part, etc., and therefore take appropriate measures;
• On the peace of mind of logistics operators, now much more in control of their time and their routes.

In the pipeline: innovations that spread throughout the production chain

Committed to a process of continuous improvement, Chantiers de l'Atlantique will now capitalize on the steps taken during the first two phases of the project, to push the management of the activity even further, with:

• Andon picking, to optimize logistics beyond emergency replenishments, particularly for the train that supplies lines from inventory.
• Real-time information on production status for logistics, to restore visibility to the latter.

Key success factors of the Chantiers de l’Atlantique project

The remarkable results observed by the cabin assembly unit are neither miraculous nor the result of chance. But above all, they are the result of a well-managed project based on three key factors:

1. Progress prioritized by "batches": rather than a comprehensive "mega-project" (which might never have seen the light of day), Chantiers de l'Atlantique proceeded in stages. First, the most urgent problem (production line shutdowns), then, after this initial success, priority number 2 (replenishment), and finally, a more widespread implementation.
2. A learning curve was respected: the teams took the time to observe the initial results and list areas for improvement before iterating.
3. Field-level listening was a cardinal virtue: the user is king, and all tools and interfaces were designed to respond as simply as possible to the needs expressed.

Originally a simple visual and audible alert system triggered by an operator to signal an incident or malfunction, the andon has evolved considerably in recent years, with innovations in alert devices that are now digital, offering greater flexibility and automatically generating data useful for continuous improvement.

As a result, e-Andon, or digital Andon, remains more relevant than ever in industry, helping to boost productivity and optimize all production processes. What type of e-Andon should I set up? How do you go about it? What are the concrete benefits? Our answers.

6 main types of Andon: how to choose the most appropriate?

A system of visual and/or audible alerts to reveal anomalies at a glance, the Andon can be applied to virtually any industrial process. Andons are generally distinguished:

• “simple” (or “self-sufficient”): these Andon systems require devices to launch alerts, designated “recipients” and a few qualification rules to clarify the nature of the problem being reported,
• “advanced”: more complex to set up than the previous ones, they often require prior experience with a simple Andon. But they also guarantee greater productivity gains!

The Andon operator

This alert system is triggered by the operator, from his workstation, to report an incident (whether blocking or not): breakdown, stoppage, accident, lack of part, quality problem… and receive rapid assistance.

Operator e-Andon: what are the benefits for your plant?

Some time after the implementation of an operator Andon, we notice :

• greater reactivity in the event of a problem: the operator can immediately raise the alarm and receive assistance from support services, without leaving his workstation,
• more precise alerts: Andon systems let you know where an incident has occurred, and its nature or degree of criticality,
• optimal information flow: operators know in real time whether their call has been received, taken into account, and whether or not the response is underway.

How to set up an e-Andon operator

To deploy an Andon operator alert system quickly, you need :

1. Identify the types of breakdowns and incidents that will trigger an Andon call and enable it to be qualified: machine incident, accident, insufficient stock of parts, etc.
2. List alert recipients by shift:
   • level 1 (workshop leader)
   • level 2 (factory leader)
   • support services (maintenance)
3. Deduce the type of hardware (remote controls, tablets, screens, etc.) needed to operate the system optimally.

Andon supply

The Andon supply or Andon forklift operator is a special form of Andon operator dedicated to internal factory logistics issues: triggering the supply of parts, calling a forklift operator, managing assembly kits…

The aim? To facilitate flow management and avoid any disruptions, using manual alerts to trigger replenishment.

What are the benefits of e-Procurement?

By putting the operator in “command” of his stocks, e-Andon procurement enables :

• better compliance with production rates,
• rationalization of forklift truck operators’ rounds, and optimization of logistics resources according to activity,
• an invaluable source of learning for more efficient production management.

Implementing e-Andon procurement: the methodology

To streamline your internal logistics with e-Andon operator, you must first :

1. Établir le référentiel des pièces concernées par votre futur process de réassort rapide (celles dont l’absence risque de bloquer l’opérateur et donc la ligne de production)
2. Définir pour ces pièces les niveaux de stock (maximum/correct/insuffisant…) qui vont conduire l’opérateur à déclencher un appel Andon
3. Identifier les destinataires de ces appels :
   • au niveau 1 (ressource logistique),
   • au niveau 2 (manager logistique en cas de retard).

The e-Andon machine: what are the benefits?

By setting up monitoring parameters to implement e-Andon machine :

• you ensure optimum responsiveness from your teams: no more human “filter”, alerts are the result of real-time machine data readings, and no longer (or no longer only) the result of episodic inspection rounds or operator alerts,
• you encourage the implementation of a predictive maintenance system, as your support services gather valuable information (frequency of breakdowns, origin of problems, resolution times, etc.) to anticipate problems, and more rapidly implement action plans to correct recurring faults, breakdowns and incidents… and thus make production lines more reliable.

Setting up an e-Andon machine: what are the prerequisites?

To implement this automated alert system, you need to have the following prerequisites:

1. Your machine fleet must be equipped with sensors or automated monitoring systems.
2. The signals picked up enable pre-qualification of the type of incident: breakdown, part wear, inconsistent metrics, etc.
3. You and your teams have drawn up a call-out and escalation plan defining who will intervene when in the event of an alert.

Quality Andon

When a drift in quality is observed, an Andon quality alert system makes it possible to :

• alert the leaders and support departments concerned,
• process and monitor reactive actions,
• record and qualify qualityincidents to feed a continuous improvement strategy.

What are the benefits of quality e-Andons?

With this type of Andon, you ensure :

• more proactive quality management, with clear processes for dealing with deviations,
• minimize the cost of non-quality, with the possibility of reacting as soon as a drift is detected on the production lines, instead of restarting the production of a complete batch.

Implementing e-Andon quality: what are the prerequisites?

To implement this Andon alert system, you need to have :

1. a quality review system close to production,
2. clearly documented checklists and control points,
3. alert triggering and escalation rules known to all concerned.

The Andon flowboard

Also known as Andon Advance-Delay or Yo-I-Don, this form of Andonalerts teams to any drift in activity monitoring, with real-time calculation of advance or delay in relation to a pre-established “standard” rate.

The Andon flowboard is therefore particularly well suited to production units:

• with operators who have the same amount of time to complete their task, before handing over the part to the next operator,
• where synchronization of different workstations is key.

L’e-Andon flowboard: what are the benefits?

This advanced form of Andon takes the operational excellence of a production unit up a notch, with :

• better visibility of activity: linked to takt time indicators, the progress of each workstation is visible, enabling the leader to immediately identify those that are experiencing problems,
• better-informed teams, with greater peace of mind and greater motivation,
• a significant gain in responsiveness, with incident resolution times divided by 2 or even 3,
• a clear gain in productivity: +10 to +20% of the production unit’s OEE.

Setting up the e-Andon flowboard: how to proceed?

To set up an e-Andon flowboard system for monitoring activity in advance-delay mode, you need to :

1. Define a clear notion of the objective (nominal time and takt-time), at production line level, then station by station,
2. Install real-time activity monitoring devices (task or cycle completion signals at each station).

The design of a real-time flowboard is therefore an essential prerequisite for the creation of your future advance-delay warning system.

Andon piloting

With Andon piloting, we move from an alert/response system to one where the Andon becomes a real tool for piloting production in real time. Thanks to a connection with the company’s information system, all activity flows can be synchronized:

• supplies are updated in real time, and stock alerts are set to avoid stock-outs,
• forklift operators are automatically assigned to a task according to their availability,
• production progress is monitored using objective indicators.

What are the benefits of e-Andon piloting?

e-Andon piloting makes it possible to supply production lines in real time, to avoid shortages (or, on the contrary, bottlenecks), and to control production as closely as possible to demand, with advanced stocks at the start of the line at a minimum level.

The result?

• unrivalled responsiveness, with incident resolution times divided by 3 or 4,
• an OEE increased by 15%, as observed by our customers.

Implementing e-Andon piloting: what are the prerequisites?

The “ultimate” stage of digital Andon, e-Andon piloting is rarely implemented at once. Beforehand, you need to have installed and mastered :

1. e-Andon operator and e-Andon procurement, to control production and internal logistics flows.
2. e-Andon flowboard, for an actionable lead-lag reference system

How do you design an efficient Andon system?

1. Choosing the right signals

In an Andon alert system, we distinguish between :

• simple” signals: a maximum of 3 to 4 types of incident to be reported, with little detail on the causes (e.g. station stoppage, accident, faulty workmanship),
• complex” signals: the operator or supervisor is asked to provide a greater level of detail on the problem encountered (missing part number, nature of the breakdown or blockage, etc.) to facilitate the work of the intervention teams.

In practical terms, you’ll need to draw up a precise list of :

• the facts or indicators that should lead an operator, a quality supervisor, or an autonomous machine to trigger an alert,
• the level of detail required for this alert, from the very simple (sufficient if it’s a matter of having a leader move to the area) to the very precise (description of the fault, reference of the missing part…).

2. Choosing the right hardware

To get your Andon system up and running, you’ll need :

• devices dedicated to Andon calls: for “simple” alerts, traditional light columns or audible alarms are now replaced by radio remote controls; to code calls and enter information (complex signals), tablets or operator consoles are now preferred, enabling Andon forms to be filled in easily,
• devices for receiving these alerts: generally, the cell phones of workshop leaders, and the computers of support service managers,
• devices for displaying alerts in progress: line screens or summary screens in workshops and offices, etc.

3. Determining escalation rules

The strength of a well-designed Andon system lies in its ability to “cover” as many possible scenarios as possible when the Andon alert is launched:

• shift by shift, who should be notified first?
• after how long should this person be contacted again?
• to whom should the alert be forwarded in the event of a non-response at level 1? level 2? etc.

Here’s what a precise “escalation plan” might look like:

4. Involve the players

This applies to Andon as it does to any lean management system that will change work processes and habits: the No. 1 key to success lies in your ability to involve the teams concerned.

• When you choose the initial scope of your Andon project (a specific line, the whole workshop…),
• When you draw up the list of situations that trigger an Andon alert,
• When you deploy Andon and carry out initial assessments of the system’s performance: are teams saving time? After the first few days, are alerts launched appropriately? What can be improved to make it easier for teams to adopt the system?

How can we capitalize on Andon for continuous improvement?

An Andon system generates immediate benefits:

• greater reactivity in detecting and resolving incidents,
• greater operational efficiency (less non-quality, less line downtime, etc.)
• increased productivity, from 5 to 15% or more of the synthetic yield rate when the system is fully operational.

These are reasons enough to consider deploying Andon! But they’re not the only ones… Digital Andon is also a way of having a permanent“snapshot” of the business, on which to base your continuous improvement initiatives.

Make the data talk

Whatever Andon digital system you implement, you generate data :

• on the incidents encountered: their frequency and recurrence, depending on the type of problem, workstation, line or product…,
• on your resolution process: reactivity and resolution times,
• on production itself: downtime, effective line working time, optimum and actual production rates…

These are all valuable clues to help you see more clearly how to optimize your processes and move towards operational excellence… if you use them:

• by feeding an incident database shared with the teams concerned (quality, maintenance, production),
• by synchronizing them with your business solutions (e.g. ERP)
• by translating them into prioritized action plans.

Andon, what’s next?

Once you’ve set up and stabilized an initial Andon system, what’s the next step in achieving further productivity gains in your production unit?

Broadly speaking, there are two possible paths:

• Generalize and amplify Andon, by multiplying use cases: cover other production units with the same type of Andon, or add a new Andon system as an “overlay” (Andon operator, then Andon supply, then Andon piloting, as our customer Chantiers de l’Atlantique did in stages). In this way, you can capitalize on the experience you’ve gained to deploy future Andons more rapidly.
• Complement your Andon alert system with other lean manufacturing tools: team ritual animation (AIC), flowboard (production management). Pursue digitalization work to move towards Industry 4.0.

Like many lean concepts and methods, Andon was popularized as part of the Toyota Production System last century. The idea? To enable production-related problems to be detected, reported and resolved more quickly and efficiently.

Andon operating principles

Andon is essentially a system of visual and/or audible alerts:

• an operator, a quality controller, or even a machine, depending on the type of Andon implemented, signals a problem,
• a leader or member of a support department, informed of the problem, intervenes to resolve it.

Digital Andon: a more efficient and flexible alert system

Traditionally, this alert was signaled by a light system (hence the Japanese term Andon, which translates as “light to go towards”) and sometimes sound alerts. It most often took the form of light columns placed on workstations.

Thanks to new technologies, the digital Andon (or e-Andon) allows :

• warn leaders and support departments more effectively: large screens on the shop floor, e-mail and SMS alerts ensure that the relevant manager is alerted more quickly and directly, especially when he or she is not physically present on the shop floor (in a meeting, for example),
• adapt the layout of “alerters” more easily when the production plan changes: a radio remote control or an operator’s tablet can be moved more easily than the ropes and light columns of yesteryear,
• simplify the transition to a continuous improvement approach: incidents are “coded” electronically, and thus entered into a database which enables them to be analyzed efficiently, and corrective action plans to be launched.

The digital Andon, because it enables information to be circulated and displayed in real time, is therefore one of the ingredients of just-in-time.

Radio remote control for simple alerts, tablet to code calls and enter information: a solution for every problem.

What are the phases of the Andon process?

A typical Andon process can be broken down into 4 phases:

1. Detection: either human (Andon operator, Andon supply) or automatic (Andon machine), this is when the Andon alert is triggered.
2. Processing: in this phase, the incident is qualified according to its seriousness, and assigned to the appropriate person (the manager in charge, the maintenance team, etc.).
3. Visibility: this is where the rules for communicating the alert are set, either directly to those in charge (SMS, e-mail) and/or collectively (posted on the shop floor).
4. Improvement: once the incident has been resolved, it is entered into a database which will be used by the teams in charge of proactively resolving the most frequent or most blocking incidents in the future.

DETECTION	PROCESSING	VISIBILITY	AMELIORATION
Detect anomalies as soon as they occur	Prioritize Critical > Urgent > Blocking > Annoying… Assign By e-mail, SMS, display… Escalate According to urgency, availability: level 1 > 2 > 3	Individual level Manager (SMS/e-mail)Operator (console, tablet, video) Team level Screens, light columns, buzzers	Historization and traceability Duration Pareto Frequency Actionsetc. Continuous improvement

What are the main features of an e-Andon system?

To reach its full potential, an Andon digital system must include :

• Andon call devices, triggered by operators (buttons, tablets…) or by automation (when a threshold is exceeded or an inconsistent indicator triggers an alert),
• an escalation process, to alert the first supervisor to be alerted, then follow up if there is no response, then move on to the next level…,
• non-alert functionalities essential for monitoring: display of takt time and production indicators (target, achieved, deviation), to move from a simple problem detection/resolution system to a production unit management aid (via a flowboard, for example),
• and finally, data collection and analysis functions, to measure the frequency of incidents by cause, type, zone, severity… and work to reduce them through continuous improvement.

What are the different types of Andon?

There are two main types of Andon:

• simple” Andons, which focus on detecting and resolving localized problems on production lines,
• advanced” Andons, which often combine several types of simple Andon, or combine Andon for alerting with visual production management systems (flowboard) or team animation systems (AIC).

What are the advantages of implementing Andon?

Why do people generally decide to implement an Andon system? It’s usually for one (or more) of these 4 reasons:

1. Rigid organization: lack of reactivity, quality monitoring not proactive enough,
2. An opaque organization: anomalies and production indicators are not sufficiently visible, which complicates decision-making and forces us to over-consume support resources,
3. Poor monitoring: management is in permanent “fire-fighting” mode to ensure that production rates are respected,
4. Insufficient traceability: incidents are not documented, preventing any continuous improvement process.

Responsiveness: incidents resolved twice as fast

The first benefit of implementing an Andon system is the acceleration of incident resolution. Time is saved at every stage of the process:

• alerts are issued more quickly, as each workstation or machine is equipped with a call device, with clear criteria,
• the incident is dealt with more quickly by the leader or the support department, thanks to the multiplication of means of contact (SMS, email, digital display in the workshop and offices),
• the unavailability of the first “contact” in the Andon alert process is rapidlycounterbalanced by escalation.

The result? Our customers see incident resolution times cut by a factor of 2 on average, and line downtime significantly reduced.

Visibility: better informed, more autonomous teams, more effective decision-making

Thanks to e-andon, everyone involved is kept informed in real time:

• the operator concerned knows precisely whether his call has been taken into account, and whether resolution is underway,
• his colleagues on the same production line know the nature of the incident, if it is blocking,
• their leader, maintenance, quality control, internal logistics… are alerted, and know who is assigned to resolving the incident.

So everyone can make the right decisions at the right time, with the certainty of having the right information. The benefits? They are both human and organizational:

• less stress, with teams passing the buck in the event of an incident,
• real cohesion around clear objectives and indicators,
• real optimization of human resources, especially in management and support services.

Operational excellence: an OEE up by 5 to 15%.

As a logical consequence of the previous 2 points, Andon digital considerably improves the productivity of a production unit, by :

• making the supply chain more reliable (less overstocking, fewer supply disruptions),
• minimizing the cost of non-quality,
• speeding up operations on the production line, and “sticking” more closely to takt time.

What exactly are the productivity gains? In the field, we measure an increase in our customers’ OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) of between 5% (e-Andon “simple”) and 15% (e-Andon “piloting”).

Very quick to deploy (less than a month for a simple version), e-Andon systems offer an almost immediate ROI (visible in less than 6 months), and incremental!

Continuous improvement: Andon accelerates digital transformation

The final major benefit of Andon digital is the range of possibilities it offers for continuously improving your operations. Why is this?

and they form the “bedrock” of your future digital transformation projects: with an operational e-Andon, you have the information you need to deploy data-driven production management(flowboard), offer your teams visual AIC management screens in real time, etc.

It generates a wealth of data, incident after incident, providing a much clearer picture of whether your production lines are operating normally, inadequately or efficiently, as well as therecurring causes of problems that need to be corrected,

These data can be used tofeed and prioritize corrective action plans that will minimize or eliminate these problems in the future.