1. Outline of new line installation

To briefly explain the job description, it includes designing the process for producing new products, estimating capital investment and labor costs, preparing equipment specifications, planning and ordering equipment, equipment verification and initial evaluation, confirming continuous production, and eliminating problems. I won't explain each item in detail in this article, but the outline is as shown above.

Depending on the product design, one production line may consist of approximately 20 to 30 assembly and inspection processes. The capital investment can be in the order of several million dollars.

The point is that in order to be able to design processes and create equipment specifications, you must have a deep understanding of product structure and production processes. In other words, an engineer with no experience or who comes from a different industry can't suddenly handle a new line.

It means that you can't introduce a new production line without first experiencing a mass production line for similar products and processes. In my experience, it took me about three years to master the entire process of product structure and characteristics and production processes.

In my fifth year, I was fortunately involved in a new project, and I became the project leader. At that time, I had mastered the mass production process and equipment specifications, so I was able to handle new project with ease.

*Project leaders are not so much about production engineering things as they are about overall management and coordination with other departments. If you want a purely engineering job, it may not be suitable for you.

Again, you can only introduce a new line after you've experienced a mass production line and have a good understanding of the product and equipment specifications.

Introducing a new production line is tough

Many problems, such as equipment problems, parts problems, design problems, etc., must be solved before stable operation can be achieved. Depending on the production line, it takes at least six months to a year for assembly process to reach stable operation.

To take a design problem, for example, if a product design is significantly changed without following a similar design, then the process design and equipment specifications must follow an unproven method. Most of the time, problems are not noticed until mass production has begun.
The same is true for parts problems. Even if the production process is operating stably, part defects (or incorrect drawing instructions) can cause problems in the production process. The same is true for equipment. As you produce a lot, you will gradually see the issues with your equipment.

As you can see, a new line starts with a lot of problems.

2. Maintaining production on the new line that has just been launched.

Then we'll talk about maintaining production after production officially starts. The company I used to work for was expanding its business and was taking on more business than the existing structure could handle. Thanks to this, our sales were increasing every year.

However, because of the rush to expand before the internal structure was in place, there were insufficient internal resources for the volume of work. In order to meet the deadlines, low-quality equipment was installed in each plant. However, due to the lack of internal resources to handle the workload, an inexperienced engineer was also assigned as the team leader.

It was taking months to a year to solve a single small problem. Under these circumstances, it seemed impossible to continue mass production after full operation.

Sure enough, the situation gradually reaches a firestorm and customer complaints are escalated to the division manager level. After it was too late, it was a completely reactive way of working, finally dispatching a few experts.

The installation of a new production line requires a high level of technical skill and experience. And maintaining that production line after it has been put into mass production requires an equally high level of experience and technical competence.

An organization that is unable to take care of its mass production processes and equipment should not purchase a new production line.

3. New production line installation is an opportunity to improve your skill

One of the most attractive aspects of production engineering job is the opportunity to install a new production line. It is a great motivation to introduce a production line with your own specifications.

In current economic situation in Japan, it may not be possible to have much experience with capital investment. Fortunately, I was able to experience a capital investment of several million dollars every year during my time.

If you don't have experience with new lines, you can't start up a new production line. I can assure you from my experience. Just as someone who has never been in a pool cannot swim well, you cannot launch a new line if you have no start-up experience.

For example, equipment layout, preparation of components for equipment verification, preparation of off-line jigs and equipment, documentation, handling customer audits, operator training, management review for line release, evaluation of parameters for each process, process capability evaluation, MSA, preparation and registration of master sample, equipment debugging, eliminating problems, and so on. There is a mountain of work to be done before the production line is brought to a production ready state.

This is something you have to experience to be able to do. It's also true that some people have never had this kind of experience because the company hasn't invested in a new production line. There are many people who have been in production engineering for five or ten years, but have only experienced small, existing improvement jobs without any investment projects.

Even if there was an occasional investment project, it would take a lot of resources within the company, so each person's responsibilities would be limited and they wouldn't be able to experience the entire workflow. With that in mind, I was blessed. It's true that it was a very busy life, but in the end I can say that it was a good experience.

If you want to grow as a production engineer, I would recommend working for a company with a growing business unit. This "environment" is a major determinant of your growth process.

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