Page 29 - MetalForming-Nov-2018-issue

Fabrication: Japan 2018
Skills Contest Promotes Sheetmetal- Processing Technologies
The Amada School of Vocational Training debuted The Precision Sheet Metal Technology Fair in 1989 as a skills contest designed to promote advanced sheetmetal-processing tech- nologies. We had an opportunity to view this year’s entries (including the ship shown here), on display in the Amada Solutions Center, for the 31st annual event. Winners will be honored at a ceremony in March 2019.
Kenichiro Makino, company president, shows off the results from employing a press-brake tool that he invented himself. He took it upon himself to develop a tool when he found that readily available tools on the market could not meet his precise bending requirements.
company that his father, a former NEC employee, founded in 1969 to produce parts for NEC, was an early adopter of technology to boost business. The latest and greatest exists not only on the shop floor, but throughout all areas of Maki- no, with an emphasis on processing speed.
Mr. Makino explained that he aims to turn around orders in 24 hours, and to assist in that effort just this year he opened a warehouse nearby to store new-parts inventories for repeat jobs. Of course, quick turnarounds mean pressure to keep machines and employees busy. Toward that end, the company strives to hone its quoting skills and deliver on a goal of two new customers per month. During our visit, seven employees were undergoing training in new skillsets to enable them to take on all portions of the quoting process.
Mr. Makino also filled us in on the goal of employing artificial intelligence (AI) to ease quoting.
“Now under development through
collaboration with a university, we are exploring AI to scan documents and drawings for quoting,” he reveals through an interpreter. “In practice, when we scan a drawing, AI will sift through our data to find similar parts that we produced in the past, and com- pare results with the scan to determine what processes should be employed. In the future, I hope to use my smart- phone to scan the drawing, and then have a quoting estimate pop up for that part.”
Such technology fits hand-in-hand with the company’s fondness for hand- held devices and the advantages they bring. For example, Makino employs an internal messaging app allowing employees and management to com-
municate via text instead of having to traverse the plant for in-person dis- cussions. As orders are finalized, they are communicated to all affected employees, providing job details and additional instructions. Reminders also can be sent regarding jobs or other company concerns. And, handheld devices—think iPods—enable scanning of job tickets to indicate that processes have been completed or that parts have been inspected and are ready to ship.
Makino communicates company- wide through another unique method: a string of ceiling-high lights routing throughout the plant that indicate lev- els of concern with various jobs and processes. Green means good, while red indicates the need for immediate
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To meet its rapid-delivery goals, and being a job shop, Makino must keep plenty of material in stock. To assist, an automatic material-storage system runs the length of the company’s shop floor, ready to deliver needed materials at a moment’s notice.