Preparing a mass production line and making equipment internally

In this article, I will talk about "Preparing a mass production line and making equipment internally". Different companies have different work styles. The main job of production engineers is to install mass production equipment, but there are different ways of doing this as well, depending on the upper-level policy and structure of the company. Here are a few examples.

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How to prepare mass production equipment

There are three options for production engineers to prepare mass production equipment.

  1. Placing an order to external equipment supplier
  2. Placing an order to internal equipment supplier (group company)
  3. making equipment internally by themselves

In my experience, option 1 was the most common method. Some large companies have specialized units within their groups and have adopted option 2. However, if the divisions are different, they may not order more than a certain percentage of the business within the group due to "high prices" or other reasons.

Originally, this should strengthen internal　cooperation and strengthen group synergies, but each company seems to have its own internal situation. If you have a specialized equipment manufacturing unit within the same business unit, it could be option 3.

In this article, I will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of option 3, internal manufacturing of equipment.

Advantages of self-manufacturing equipment

Let's look at the advantages first.

Low investment in mass production equipment

The apparent investment amount can be lowered. This is effective when the investment budget is reduced by upper management policy. Since the "apparent cost" will be lowered, it will be easier to pass the approval process when the financial situation is severe.

However, when registering fixed assets, in-house man-hours are included. If there is an advantage in considering the amount of expected man-hours, you may want to produce the equipment internally.

Designing and assembling equipment improves the engineer's technical skills

When you manufacture equipment, you have to do everything from mechanical, electrical, and software design to component selection, equipment assembly, wiring, debugging, and verification by yourself. The equipment cannot be completed without understanding every detail in the design stage.

By building one of these equipment, you can significantly improve understanding of equipment structure and control. In terms of training engineers, this equipment manufacturing is effective. Once you have a better understanding of the structure, you can develop the specifications for the next equipment.

This is a huge advantage for production engineers. This is because, speaking from my experience as an engineer for more than 10 years, there were many production engineers who did not understand the internal structure of equipment. If you want to improve your skills as an engineer, I recommend you to have experience in equipment manufacturing.

Disdvantages of self-manufacturing equipment

Then there are the disadvantages.

You can't make quality equipment without skill

In-house equipment is just equipment made by amateurs. It is not comparable to professionals. You should carefully consider the use of the equipment, its duration and the long-term risks. In the case of mass-production equipment, once installed, it cannot be easily replaced, even if it is not easy to use. Unless you have a high level of technical experience, you should not manufacture mass production equipment internally.

long-term service warranty and risk for equipment failure

Obviously, no one else will take care of the equipment except ourselves. In the event of failure, we will be responsible for investigating and debugging the cause of failure. It is good if there is more than one person in the company who can handle detail. But if only one particular person has to handle, you will lose a service window for that equipment due to that person's transfer or retirement.

In the case of the automotive industry, the production period lasts for 5-10 years. If you can't handle the service of the equipment, you can outsource it to the equipment manufacturer. However, this is simply saying that you are just asking them to do something troublesome. Even professional vendors do not want to deal with problems with equipment that is not designed by them.

It takes many man-hours to design, arrange parts, assemble, wire and debug

It will take at least 3 months of man-hours, including design (mechanical, electrical, control), assembly, wiring, debugging, etc. In the meantime, other work will stop. You need to carefully consider the mid-term work situation and resource allocation in the department .

If you have an expert around to take care of the situation, they can check the details and eliminate any suspicious parts so that you don't make any mistakes. However,if you are a beginner or an inexperienced engineer, you need to leave "a lot of time" in your schedule.
This is because even a small oversight can cost you a significant amount of dates. For example, here's an example.

  • Example: When a part needs to be modified due to a design mistake
  • Example: When reordering due to mistake in ordering of parts
  • Example: When debugging does not progress due to poor software skills
  • Example: When expected accuracy is not achieved after completion

Conclusion

I recommend in-house manufacturing of equipment to improve the skills of your engineers. However, I do not recommend in-house manufacturing of mass-production equipment because of the balance of long-term support and the risks associated with the quality of the finished equipment. If you want to manufacture equipment internally, I recommend a low-risk project such as a prototype equipment.



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