CASA/SME recognizes successful implementation of an integrated manufacturing system at Mori Seiki and an integrated manufacturing teaching and research program at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Every year the Computer and Automated Systems Association of SME (CASA/SME) presents its Leadership and Excellence in the Application and Development of Integrated Manufacturing (LEAD) award to one industrial firm and one academic organization. Winners must demonstrate that they have achieved an outstanding success in innovative, leading-edge integrated manufacturing.

The business goal of Mori Seiki (Yamatokoriyama, Nara, Japan) is to achieve the top share of the worldwide machine tool market. Striving for that goal led the company to implement an integrated manufacturing concept throughout its operations. Mori Seiki began by defining its four strategic business units as "business engines." They then set out to integrate the four: Product Design & Development; Production; Sales and Marketing; and Service.

In Product Design & Development, the company began to replace 2-D CAD systems in 1996, completing the process in 1999. Today, all CAD systems in use at Mori Seiki are solid-model-based 3-D systems, and software analytical tools permit immediate evaluation of designs in a virtual environment. Consequently, the productivity of the firm's machine tool design engineers has improved. Because less trialand-error engineering by physical prototyping is necessary, the time required to design a HMC, for example, has decreased by 20%.
Immediately after the introduction of the 3-D systems, Mori Seiki found that the productivity of the company's design engineers declined. Extra effort and training were needed to transition successfully to the 3-D equipment. After this transition period, productivity improved significantly.

As part of the integrated manufacturing system project, design engineers set out to promote developwent of common subassemblies. Spindle specifications, for example, are usually set to accommodate customer requirements, but the number of types of spindles must be minimized to reduce manufacturing cost. Because of design improvement efforts, the number of spindle types was reduced without sacrificing freedom in user-oriented specifications.

In Production, digital manufacturing seeks to improve the productivity of parts-machining operations. All new equipment purchased must be CNC machine tools or dedicated special-purpose CNC machine tools. Most production machines in Mori Seiki's factory are CNC machines. Currently, parts are produced on 400 CNC machines, and flexible manufacturing systems or cells have been installed. All parts transfer on the factory floor is handled by automatic storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS).

Product quality was addressed by building the Ultra Precision Parts Manufacturing Center in 1997. Critical components like spindles and ballscrews are made in the center's temperature-controlled environment. In addition, engineers sought to reduce the number of parts required to build a machine tool. After this re-engineering effort, the machine tool bed became an integrated single element, and can be made by multiaxis machining on a five-face machining center with one setup. This effort has reduced typical machining time and assembly time by 45%.

Sales and Marketing can obtain information from Mori Seiki's centralized factories, which are directly connected via a proprietary network to sales and service centers around the world. The company maintains 31 technical centers in Japan and 25 overseas. This information infrastructure has greatly improved sales per salesman.

Service, the fourth engine, was improved by using a Product Problem Report (PPR) system on the company's Intranet. Data on emerging problems are distributed to responsible departments, statistically analyzed and, if the problem appears in past records, diagnostic action is taken to find the cause. Any appropriate recovery or corrective action is undertaken immediately. The record of this action is reflected in reference manuals used to develop the next machine tool. Processing time per problem has fallen dramatically since introduction of the PPR system, and same-day shipping of service parts increased to almost 90% in 1999. Prompt shipping of parts reduces Mean Time to Repair (MMR) at the user's site.

In the integrated manufacturing system, personnel in charge of each of the groups of departments that support the four business engines are designated leaders. They are responsible for ensuring that three key technology categories: Information and Networking Technology (INT), Operation Support Technology (OST), and Knowledge Management Technology (KMT) are assimilated by the organization.

To determine how extensively staff personnel have taken part in the project, Mori Seiki looks at effects inside and outside the company. These effects are measured by looking at the means of communication among staff, principally the Internet. Kaizen proposals are regarded as examples of internal effects, while patent applications are external effects.