Problem

At its North America Automotive Steering Business Unit, JTEKT  Corporation’s fabrication of power steering assemblies is a  complex undertaking involving hundreds of machines across  dozens of lines in multiple plants – with processes spanning  machining and heat treating of parts, to sub and final assembly  of components with comprehensive testing each step of the way.  

It’s imperative for automotive OE suppliers to have robust  quality control procedures in place to reduce liability from  mis-assembled or defective products that may result in costly  recalls or place customer safety at risk. The customer wanted a  better, more comprehensive system to support process control  and quality assurance by eliminating the possibility of passing  bad, wrong, or incomplete parts through the process. They  also wanted to better record and maintain process data from  hundreds of machines with myriad parameters allowing them  to verify that the correct pressures, torques, etc. are applied to  each and every assembly for better process control and  quality assurance. 

Additionally, JTEKT also needed to comply with a new customer  advanced traceability mandate to ensure sub-assemblies and  final products assembled within JTEKT facilities were 100%  traceable. This included maintaining traceability for key individually  serialized components as well as dozens of other batched  serialized components while maintaining a component genealogy  of each product produced.

Moreover, JTEKT wanted an Intelligent Manufacturing System to  orchestrate Human-to-Machine interactions – going beyond the  functionality of traditional Manufacturing Execution Systems to  address process control when human operators need to  intervene to resolve issues on the plant floor.

Solution

Chosen over two other solutions that were implemented in its manufacturing facilities in Asia and Europe, IGear software – first deployed at the customer’s North American manufacturing site – was proven to be the best-in-class and most comprehensive  solution to meet its requirements around manufacturing process control, quality assurance, advanced traceability and human-to-machine communications. As a result, the customer is  now standardizing on IGear ASSIST across all of its North American manufacturing operations as its Intelligent Manufacturing System supporting all new lines for automotive assembly production. 

IGear ASSIST provides a proven method for controlling the quality and performance of production processes. It enables  manufacturers to verify standardized operator work instructions  are consistently followed by recording a traceable genealogy of  all work sequences, component parts, and cycle times, along  with the operator actions and machine events involved within  each value-added work center in the overall manufacturing  process spanning some 450 machines in each plant. 

JTEKT now has a “birth certificate” for every product that’s  made, detailing exactly what components are in the build. Additionally – prior to the start of processing – the system ensures the correct part is being run, the correct machine  program type is being used, that the part was not previously  rejected as bad, and that the part is at the correct operation (no process was skipped). After confirmation of the above points, permission to run is granted and the machine will perform its intended function. Improved visibility of JTEKT industrial machine and process data is supported via powerful web-based data reporting and visualization, which provides a unified reporting framework to simultaneously view and easily discern information from multiple, disparate data sources. 

JTEKT is also leveraging the IGear SQUEAKS software. Fully integrated with ASSIST, it supports human-to-machine interac tion and real-time collaboration among front-line workers and  production managers. The technology introduces a new paradigm for real-time connected manufacturers, leveraging the power of mobility, wearables and role-based workflow and analytics to deliver exactly the right mission-critical information  to specific personnel in the execution of mission-critical operations ensuring clarity, ownership, accountability, and responsiveness. 

Fast becoming the human-to-machine communications protocol  for the largest manufacturers around the world, SQUEAKS supports better decision-making and closed-loop collaboration, integrating messaging across machines and personnel to surface  insights and mobilize prescriptive actions to support dramatically improved production up time and quality assurance.

Results

The JTEKT / IGear alliance has resulted in a state-of-the-art real-time manufacturing platform that safeguards against production errors, defects, and non-compliance across all processes executed by human personnel and/or machines, dramatically enhancing the customer’s leadership position of excellence in manufacturing operations. IGear technology has enabled the company to achieve the pinnacle of quality in manufacturing: absolute assurance to requirements at every stage as products are being manufactured, resulting in zero defects.

IGear worked closely with JTEKT’s in-house Production Engineering team on all aspects of integration and implementation. With no custom code required, the first line was up and running in six months and the second, third and fourth lines were live in half the time. 

JTEKT has dramatically improved visibility of production data, so it can now understand – on a real time basis – is it meeting production targets or falling behind? When problems arise, it now has the insights and support for decision making to speed issue resolution to mitigate costly line stops. Maintenance, quality, management, and other key personnel now collaborate  to troubleshoot and resolve issues faster and more efficiently than ever before. Moreover, by instituting the technology framework to tighten product and process traceability and quality control, the company has dramatically reduced its corporate risk and liability profile. 

As a result of successes to date, new JTEKT use cases to enable via IGear continue to be defined. The previously manual Quality Check Sheet process, which dictated a quality check of every machine every two hours and whenever a product changeover  occurred, has now been automated for greater efficiency and improved accountability and auditability. Shortly thereafter, IGear was used to automate the company’s Maintenance Call System by providing visibility of work order status to all levels of personnel via mobile devices, TVs, and wireless light trees on the plant floor