2019 was a dark time for the Takata Corporation.
Why? Manufacturing faults.
Car manufacturer Toyota had to recall 1.7 million vehicles due to airbag faults that Takata supplied. This not only posed huge safety risks for drivers but could directly affect Toyota’s reputation. Because of Takata’s manufacturing mistake, they eventually had to file for bankruptcy…
Turns out, according to Wikipedia, Takata admitted in 2014 that their Mexican subsidiary had mishandled the manufacturing of explosive propellants and also unethically stored airbag chemicals. Not only did they have to identify which vehicles had these failures, but they also had to pay the ultimate price.
What about the customer? The customer who specifically buys a vehicle for its safety? This same customer will forever be hesitant to purchase any car, never mind a Toyota!
These types of preventable manufacturing mistakes frustrate, annoy, and eliminate trust between customer and manufacturer. They are also low-hanging fruit for business improvement. After all, what is easier than solving a solvable problem?
You might not realise it yet, but identifying several concurrent mistakes in your manufacturing process, or having several product returns, is already the first step to preventing them. If you know there is potential for failure, it means you already know more about your manufacturing process than most.
Now that you’ve successfully determined that something is off, you can go about resolving the issue and preventing it from happening again.
But how do you go about actually solving the problem?
The answer might or might not be as simple as you think, but it’s achievable either way. You need to approach these mistakes in a systemised way to create significant impact, and fast!
Check out this episode to discover a 5-step system on detecting and preventing mistakes in your manufacturing process.
Full blog here: https://www.metisautomation.co.uk/detect-and-prevent-manufacturing-mistakes/
