ANDON

Andon in manufacturing refers to a status-display station. The origin of term Andon is from a Japanese
word for traditional paper lantern. An Andon is one of the most common forms of visual management
that is in use in Lean. It is a highly effective tool as it enables the operation to run smoothly without any
bottlenecks.

An Andon system is one of the principal elements of the Jidoka quality control method pioneered by
Toyota as part of the Toyota Production system and now part of Lean approach. Jidoka means
‘empowering the employees’, and here Andon directs operator’s attention to the assembly line to
identify the status of the process and take corresponding actions with utmost significance. Under this
process, operator/ employee is empowered and informed to pull an andon cord in the assembly line
when abnormalities occur.

Andons are the lighted signal like the traffic lights with three colors on top of each level of production
assembly line. Whenever a worker detected any problem in the production line, or found himself unable
to keep pace with the line, he could stop the operation by pulling a cord called ‘andon’ cord, which
would set off an alarm system and illuminate the color coded andon electric light board.

If the problems detected were not rectified within a specified time period then the entire production
line would stop, either manually or automatically. And if there is no problem the andon illuminates a
green signal signifying that process can continue with the operations.

Andon cords and their significance

Andon cords and their significance table

These three colors signal are broadly used in many manufacturing industries. However, some industries
prefer to develop other color signals with specific meaning, such as white- end of production run and
blue – defective unit. Warning light on your car’s dashboard that indicates when the gas tank is getting
close to empty, is a simple day-to- day example of an andon that we come across.
Types of Andons:

Manual: Andons are activated manually by the operator/employee in the assembly line by either,

Pressing static button

Pulling a cord

Automatic: Andons are activates automatically on the conveyor when criteria fixed in the assembly line
are not met or lacking.

Andons intitally were light signals in the manufacturing process to enable operator to signal the status
based on the color. Today, visual displays are more sophisticated; however, their purpose remains the
same, communicating efficiency and real-time status of the plant floor.

Benefits of Lean Manufacturing Andon

Improve transparency: Encourage immediate reaction to quality, down time, and safety problems.

Increase productivity: Bring immediate attention to problems as they occur in the manufacturing
process.

Strengthen flexibility: Improve accountability of operators by increasing their responsibility for good
production and empowering them to take action when problems occur.

Reduce downtime: Improve the ability of supervisors/operators to quickly identify and resolve
manufacturing issues.

Save costs and time: Provide a simple and consistent mechanism for communicating information on the
plant floor.
Traffic Light System - A Visual Quality Control Tool

S.Kavitha

Written by: S.Kavitha

Introduction

Garments styles are changing rapidly. Also the fast changing economic conditions such as global
competition, declining profit margin, customer demand for high quality product, product variety and
reduced leadtime etc. had a major impact on manufacturing industries. The demand for higher value at
lower price is increasing and to survive, apparel manufacturers need to improve their operations
through producing right first time quality and waste reduction. Unless buyers expectations and
requirements are met, it would be very difficult to survive or to grow. Therefore, quality is becoming a
vital key to successful growth of a company. Reworks in the garments industry are a common work that
hampers the smooth production rate. Rework is a vital issue for poor quality product and low
production rate. Stitching operations (with respect to cutting and finishing) needs high skill as well as
quality work, because of difficulty associated with repairing of products sewed with wrong
specifications. We have to give more attention to stitching than to cutting and finishing. Here, how a
traffic light system in sewing floor can be used to detect defects at source level is described.

What Is Traffic Light System

Traffic light system is the most effective inspection tool to reduce defect generation at source.

This is a random inspection system. Traffic light system is more effective in controlling shop floor quality
than other quality tools because of its visual communication. At the same time it measure operators
performance level in quality. No operators like to be presented themselves as lower quality makers.
They concentrate on quality aspect during stitching garments.

Inline checking system will alert operators in concentrating their job. If less number of defective seam is
made, less the time will be lost in repairing it. It also helps in other way. May be at the start of the style
an operator do not understand the specification, an interaction with quality inspector will make an
operator clear about the quality requirement. Traffic Light System is designed to flag the problem at
source and allow immediate corrective action rather than all potentially defective product to continue
to be manufactured.
How It Works

Traffic Light System is a visual control for highlighting quality issues in sewing line. Traffic light quality
system works in a similar fashion the transportation traffic light system works. Three different colour
cards are placed in each operators place. Green indicates that Quality meets the customers Standard.
Yellow indicates that a minor fault has been found and caution is required. Red indicates that the
Quality Standard does not meet the customers standard requirement.
Traffic Light System In Garment Industry

Contents [show]

Traffic light system is the most effective inspection tool used to reduce defect generation at source.

Nowadays manufacturers are facing intensive global competition. Now to keep up to completing the
international marketplace we have to simultaneously improve both quality and productivity on a
continual basis. Garment styles are changing rapidly. Also, the fast-changing economic conditions such
as global competition, declining profit margin, customers demand for the high-quality product, product
variety and reduced lead time etc. have a major impact on manufacturing industries.

The demand for higher value at a lower price is increasing and to survive, apparel manufacturers need
to improve their operations through producing right-first-time quality and waste reduction. Unless
buyer’s expectations and requirements are met, it would be very difficult to survive or to grow.

Therefore, quality is becoming a vital key to the successful growth of a company. Reworks in the
garment industry are a common problem that hampers the smooth production rate. Rework is a vital
issue for poor quality product and low production rate. Stitching operations (with respect to cutting and
finishing) need high skill as well as quality work, because of difficulty associated with repairing of
products sewed with wrong specifications.

To overcome the above-stated problems, companies are adopting Traffic Light System to meet the
quality requirements.

Traffic Light System

Traffic light system is the most effective inspection tool used to reduce defect generation at source.

This is a random inspection system. Traffic light system is more effective in controlling shop floor quality
than other quality tools because of its visual communication. At the same time, it measures operator’s
performance level in quality. No operators like to be presented themselves as lower quality makers.
They concentrate on quality aspect during stitching garments.
Inline checking system alerts operators in concentrating on their job. If less number of defective pieces
are made, less time will be lost in repairing it. It also helps in another way. Maybe at the start of the
style an operator does not understand the specification, an interaction with quality inspector will make
an operator clear about the quality requirement. Traffic Light System is designed to flag the problem at
the source and allow immediate corrective action rather than all potentially defective product to
continue to be manufactured.

Traffic light quality system works in a similar fashion such as the transportation traffic light system
works. Like the transportation system, it includes three quality signal cards: green, yellow and red. In the
production line, each worker is characterized by a card and the card is being hanged above his/her head.
Green is for good quality, yellow is for warning condition and red stands for stopping the production due
to a quality fault. Five pieces quality checking system has been implemented and the quality controllers
are instructed to check the quality status every two hours interval and collect data of each worker on a
regular basis. When a worker produces

Five pieces quality checking system has been implemented and the quality controllers are instructed to
check the quality status every two hours interval and collect data of each worker on a regular basis.
When a worker produces a quality product with zero defect, he or she is characterized by a green card.
A worker who does a single fault out of the checked five pieces, he or she is warned by a yellow card
that indicates that he or she should be more careful about quality for the next time.

But when any worker who does multiple faults, a red sticker is marked on his or her sheet that indicates
that this worker is producing several faults that should be corrected and an extra care should be taken
to this worker. The extra care may be in a way that he or she should be trained for that operation or if
they have any problem, could be solved.

This is not a way of pushing the workers but to motivate them so that they are willing to do the quality
at the first time they make it. Based on the performance the workers and the production lines are
scored by a common scoring system. The system offers that, the best worker and the best line that
scores highest should be honored by the management and some incentive should be given to them for
their outstanding performance.

The system also offers that, they should also be honored by putting the best quality badge for the whole
month so that they can feel proud and all other workers can get inspired to achieve the highest quality
level.
Before implementing System

Study the present alteration rate and method to rectify the alterations.

Discuss with higher management and suggest traffic light system.

Prepare the traffic light formats.

Hang the format on each machine of the operator.

Continue the system for one month.

Study the alteration rate after implementation of traffic light system.

Problems faced before system implementation

There was a high rate of alteration.

The type and cause of defects could not be identified correctly.

Time is taken for a style to move out of the line increased.

The cost invested for rectifying the alteration increased.

The higher management was not being aware of the defects occurring in the line.

The quality of the garment was degraded and not according to the standards.

Therefore, there was a necessary need to implement a quality tool to reduce the alteration rate.

After Implementation of the system

A monthly format was made for every operator in the line and was hung on his/her machine.

A QC checked a bundle of 5 pieces produced on a bi-hourly basis and marked the format appropriately-
2 or more pieces defective – RED, 1 piece defective – YELLOW, NO piece defective – GREEN.

Once QC completed one round of the line, the supervisor made the round and checked the format.

If the supervisor found red on any format then he would tell the operator to stop the operation and tell
him/her the correct procedure to carry out the operation.

After the supervisor corrected the operator the same operator altered the pieces found defective by
him.

At the end of the month, the formats were reviewed and the operator with a good performance was
rewarded with the monitor incentive.

With the implementation of traffic light system, the alteration was reduced by a large amount. It helped
to identify the cause of the defect at the first step of production, not at the end of the system before
implementation and correction of the defect was carried out at the same time. By giving incentive, the
operators were motivated to produce defect-free garments. The operators thought more about the
quality than the quantity produced.