When your andon board is visible to all employees, they can see in a flash whether their targets are being met. In the event of process deviations or malfunctions, workers can intervene immediately, look for the causes of the error message, and address them without delay. Process owners can intervene independently and take control of the situation – all while avoiding major downtimes. Digital andon boards don’t just visualize error messages, they also illuminate production progress, capacity utilization, and inventory management for everyone on the shop floor in a way that is clear and easy to understand.
With a digital andon board by Peakboard, you can visualize your machine data and put it in the spotlight. In the process, you can decide for yourself whether all the information should be displayed on one screen or if the dashboards should alternate at your pre-determined intervals. Through interactive buttons, you also have the opportunity to rewrite process changes manually or automatically in your source system. This saves time and ensures that your data is always up-to-date. Both on the monitor and in your database.
Where do andon boards originate from?
The andon-system first became popular in Japan, where it originally formed part of the Toyota production system and was introduced as a lean management measure. The word “andon” in Japanese originally meant something like “lantern,” but it was later adopted as the term for the small lights on machines. Today, the andon system or andon board is a visual inspection measure that allows information about the operating status of production lines or individual machines to be displayed in a way that is understandable and immediately recognizable to everyone.
What do andon systems consist of?
Which key figures belong on an andon board?
Plant and machine operators on the shop floor can use andon boards to learn not just about important KPIs at a glance, but also such information as the shift schedule and progress towards achievement of the goal. Comparisons of target/actual results or the overall process are shown to managers so that they can reschedule their branch employees in good time. Management can use an additional dashboard to get both general and detailed information about process optimizations.
Basically, andon boards are always used as information boards to display process-relevant key performance indicators (KPI). They are usually used to visualize information like cycle times, target and actual quantities, or company-specific OEE KPIs.
Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a metric commonly used to measure process performance, and it is therefore a feature that is commonly found on andon boards.
What are the benefits of andon boards?
With an andon board, information can be communicated visually so that every employee can see directly whether a process is running as planned or whether there are disruptions. By providing visual warnings on the shop floor, andon boards create transparency for all production employees. They therefore increase efficiency by reducing downtimes and allowing workers to respond quickly to faults.
Discover a wide range of available dashboard templates on our Templatesite
Build your own simple and scalable andon system consisting of a digital andon board and andon-light with Peakboard – even if your aging production facilities may not initially support it.
With Peakboard , information can be input and output directly via external devices. Input information that is entered via switches, for example, is forwarded directly to the Peakboard Enterprise Box and processed there. Output information is sent from Peakboard Box to an external device, displayed via signal lights or sound boxes, for example.
In the event of a machine malfunction, the error message is reported not just on the dashboard itself, but also via a clearly visible light that signals a problem and prompts workers to take action. This means that in the event of a problem, employees do not have to hunt down the responsible contact person, which significantly reduces response times. And since your data is also available digitally with Peakboard, you can then use it for the long-term evaluation of your production processes!
Capture, process and visualize your order data e.g. from SAP with the production data from your machine – in real time and without major programming effort.
Just download the software for free, install it on your PC and get started.
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