What if the machine can tell you about the issues in the production line?
Yes, right, in industrial automation world, this could be possible where machine can give alert, or we can say that machine can tell operator and engineer about the issue. This can be achieved with the help of an ANDON system.
Many companies suffer with one common issue and that is downtime. Yes, downtime is the reason behind production targets and actual production. How? Because the higher the downtime in production, the less the production working hours.
And this downtime is getting higher because of one reason and that is identifying the exact issue in exact production line, operators do this manually and it takes lot of time.
But what if this issue can be solved within a few minutes? Yes, with the help of an ANDON system on your production line, this issue can be prevented. And for that, we need to understand what is ANDON and How ANDON system works?
What is ANDON?
You will find various terms about ANDON system, like according to John Oskin, “Andon displays empower operators to call for help, stop the line and cure the problem,”
Let us make it simple, the main concept of an ANDON system is identifying the issue, notifying authoritative people, and resolving the issue. This system is used for reducing the down time in the production process. So, now let us understand how it works.
How does the ANDON System Work?
ANDON System in manufacturing process is connected with the machines of production line through wireless or wired facility. It can be both manual and automatic. In manual, a person needs to pull the lever or press button manually and then it will get activated. While in an automatic system, it will activate on its own whenever a problem arises, or an alert needs to be generated. This takes place through sensors. In any way this system is quick and helps to identify issues within seconds.
How does the ANDON system send notification?
There are three ways:
1) ANDON light
This is the most common method where three LED lights i.e., red, yellow, and green are used as a indicator.
RED – Problem arises – It indicates that action needs to be taken to solve the problem
YELLOW – Problem Found – It indicates that problem is found and will be fixed
GREEN – Smooth Production – The production line problem is resolved and is running smoothly
2) SMS and Email alert
The second way is where the ANDON system automatically sends Email/SMS about the issue to authoritative operator and engineer. Thus, time wasted in confirming through verbal communication with each other is saved.
3) Sound alert
Here, whenever a problem arises the ANDON system gets activated and it gives a loud sound alert to indicate an operator that something is wrong, and attention is needed.
ANDON system is one of the best systems which can reduce the downtime for sure. This automation is small but helps your business to be more efficient in production.
