Omron unveiled its Ayabe Plant (1/2)

Responding to the shortage of human resources in IoT
On August 28, 2018, Omron, which developing and manufacturing control equipment and industrial robots unveiled Ayabe Plant in Kyoto Prefecture for the press.
Omron’s control equipment business is the mainstay business, accounting for 40% of total sales.
In the manufacturing floor, labor shortage and aging are problems, and by innovating IoT and AI, productivity improvement and sophistication are attempted.
Omron will launch new services in 2018 based on technologies developed at manufacturing floors.

Disclosing the status of model factory

Ayabe Plant is positioned as a modeling factory embodying the “i-Automation” concept of manufacturing innovation proposed by the company.
With 989 employees, it handles 18,000 kinds of products. In fiscal 2017 it produced 34 million products.
Tatsuya Benkan, General Manager of Ayabe Plant(=photo) says, “We will constantly improve productivity in accordance with the characteristics of products, such as sizes, prices, and number of products, based on various kind and small quantity production.”

Continuous improvement on Manufacturing Floor
Ayabe Plant offers a wide range of products, from small items such as photoelectric sensors and proximity sensors that ride on fingertips to large items that include X-ray CT examination equipment.
At Ayabe Plant, the theme of “GEMBA (Global Empowered Manufacturing By Automation)” was established in 2016, and it will work on innovations at the manufacturing floor.
For example, in the assembly line of the photoelectric sensor, the transfer is automated by introducing the mobile robot.
Conventionally, finished products have been transported to the shipping space by human force after they have accumulated to some extent, but the lead time is shortened on average by the mobile robot transporting them.