All work that does not add value will be reflected in the product cost. Waste, as a redundant cost, how can Lean Production be used to solve it? How to understand the underlying logic of Lean Production? How can the "butterfly effect" triggered by systems or tools build a clear lean production plan for enterprises? This article provides an answer worth learning from.

The core concept of Lean Production is to eliminate waste as the top priority. An automotive electronics manufacturer in Dongguan, which mainly produces switch components for vehicles, encountered the first challenge on the production floor in two aspects: 1. The factory has a wide variety of equipment manufacturers, brands, and models, with equipment status, Andon information, and statistical data relying solely on manual operations. Incomplete and inaccurate statistics on equipment production efficiency and estimated output due to human factors are common. 2. The equipment management system purchased at a high cost was intended to comprehensively monitor Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), defect rate (PPM), time availability, and performance availability. However, the shortcoming of non-visualized data can only be compensated through layers of human communication. The waste of human resources and low production efficiency are like throwing a large stone into the river of Lean Production, causing ripples that force managers to start thinking about ways to change the current predicament and break the market deadlock.

During the construction of Lean Production, this Dongguan factory, after repeated deliberation and consideration, decided to adopt the equipment monitoring system of Alps System Integration (Dalian) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "ALSI") to assist production management. Since the overall effect of this system had not yet been witnessed, to be conservative, only 34 pieces of equipment were selected for trial on the SMT line. By installing the smart data collector TS-10 on these devices, equipment information is automatically collected, and the smart gateway TG-10 uploads data in real time without manual Andon input. Once the two hardware components work together, real-time collection and monitoring of equipment status are achieved, just like installing countless cameras on the production floor to monitor every corner and every detail without blind spots. Each step of production is recorded by the software Lighthouse application system, while providing data statistical analysis reports to make up for the lack of visualization in the factory's original equipment management system. It clearly displays overall equipment utilization, line utilization, and equipment failure rankings through charts from multiple dimensions, reducing human errors that may occur from manual Andon and report generation, which could affect management decisions or even cause irreversible losses to the factory.

By linking equipment status information with order information, automatic and continuous information flow is achieved. The stunning effect of seeing is believing led this Dongguan factory to additionally deploy the ALSI equipment monitoring system on 77 pieces of equipment, greatly shortening the logistics path between processes, improving operational efficiency, and promoting the factory's Lean Production. It can be said that the application of the ALSI equipment status monitoring system provides actionable soil for the factory to advance Lean Production. Nourished by this soil, the promotion of Lean Production methods has found its root and source.