Andon System Best Practices in Lean Production
I. System Overview
The Andon system originated at Toyota and is primarily used for shop floor exception handling. When anomalies occur during production, operators trigger Andon signals to alert responsible personnel, enabling rapid problem identification and resolution. Hegong Software''s RockPlus Andon system is widely applicable across electronics assembly, automotive electronics, engines, transmissions, motors, electric drive systems, vehicle assembly, machinery, smart home, new energy batteries, and photovoltaic industries.
The Andon process: When an operator triggers Andon, the Andon base station deployed in the workshop receives the corresponding call signal, records it, and forwards it to responsible personnel via walkie-talkies, smart watches, and large display boards. Engineers seeing the alarm proceed to the Andon location, swipe their employee card to temporarily silence the alarm, handle the exception, and swipe again to close the task. The system defines a timeout period; if unresolved within this period, the issue is escalated to higher-level personnel.
RockPlus Andon supports both software and hardware triggering. Software triggering uses the Andon Call Client installed on computers, offering quick setup without additional hardware. Hardware triggering uses buttons on Andon boxes with wireless communication, battery-powered for instant deployment without additional power. The system supports user information management, line/station configuration, station exception calls, alarm alerts, and anomaly statistical analysis.
