There is a need for a structural shift in Japanese manufacturing. The manufacturing industry, which initially consisted of simple acts of buying raw materials, processing them into products, and selling them, gradually became functionally differentiated as its mechanism increased in complexity. The making seems to have been divided. I feel that production sites that simply pursue cost and efficiency become a bit boring and dull. If a very abstract way, the unit that makes the thing has become integral, amoeba – was organically bound as, if you will not be dynamic ones making of the organization. Even when viewed from the young, cool production site, to continue to be a production site with a shine, “made” just not ” making things ” become a set, you never feel that it is necessary to have without having to leave.
One clue to getting there is the proper use of the standpoint of making the final product and the standpoint of creating a “structure” for making the product. Manufacturing should be true to the original production site, such as making machine tools yourself and devising the production line system. The functions such as process design, production technology, and production preparation as shown by the JSME-MSD model are centered on people, and are being integrated with the production site to reconstruct a brilliant site. It seems to be an effective means.
Another effective aspect is digitalization with ICT. The world of manufacturing is the world of Atom, and the world of information for this is said to be the world of bits. Both are based on different principles and principles. It is the world of Atom that actually processes things at the factory. The world of logistics for delivering products from factories to consumers is also the world of Atoms governed by laws of physics. On the other hand, the world of bits in the information society is not governed by physical laws. Information can be replicated indefinitely, and you can move through the space in an instant. In a cyber-physical world where Bit and Atom are fused, things that couldn’t be imagined now may become possible one after another.
The argument here is who will take the lead in such a world, that is, who will take the initiative. Currently, Western companies are completely ahead of ICT, and Japanese companies are busy catching up. On the other hand, in the world of manufacturing, Japanese companies have a long day. In other words, who could open up the ICT and manufacturing integration area could be a Japanese company. The bit side is quicker to understand the world of the atom, or the atom side is faster than the bit side.
For the factory side, that is, the atom side, the bit world, that is, the ICT world, is already a familiar area in terms of utilization of information systems. However, the fear of the ICT world is that it works only when it is connected to the other party. For example, a telephone does not have a conversation unless the other party is on the same protocol. Due to the nature of network externality, the more connected partners, the higher the utility value of the product. In addition, since the replication cost of digital data and programs can approach zero as much as possible, it is necessary to capture the relationship between manufacturing costs and sales prices with a completely different concept. Furthermore, intellectual property management is extremely important to maintain the asset value of the developed ICT.
This intellectual property management technology is closely related to the formation of an “ ecosystem ” . As products are unable to function on their own and are increasingly positioned as one part in larger systems, products will not spread to the market without revealing some internal mechanisms. This trend is more pronounced as the ability to connect is gradually shifting its weight from hardware to software.
A factory that is connected in the same way as a product can only demonstrate performance when connected to other factories. If you don’t connect, the expensive equipment and machinery in the factory won’t help you. Much of the connection between connected factories is information and software in a broad sense. In the engineering chain such as the design process and maintenance process as well as in the supply chain, digitalization will continue in the future, and further tactics regarding connected factories will intensify.
In a world dominated by network externalities, the predecessors will gain enormous profits, and followers no longer have the power to control the market. In the world of manufacturing that drags half an atom, even if it is not so extreme, but in the future, if you focus on the follower in the process of integrating ICT and manufacturing, you will have to fight with very disadvantageous game rules There is a great chance that it will be impossible.
In light of this situation, “lead factory” members volunteer of research subcommittee, beyond the position in each of the companies and organizations, First it is gonna pioneered in the framework of such cooperation. The Industrial Value Chain Initiative (IVI) is a declaration that the elite who know everything about Japanese manufacturing will take the initiative as a leader, not a follower, for a new era.
There are various first steps for each company that agrees on what issues to deal with, what kind of issues should be dealt with, and what sort of partners to form alliances with. However, each company does not tackle the issues independently as before, but decides the direction while forming multiple clusters, and at the same time uses elemental technologies and standardization technologies that are common to each cluster. It will be shared and shared throughout the consortium. And, by making such activities open to the outside as much as possible and disseminating information overseas, we are actively taking in human resources and wisdom from overseas.
Rather than move top-down in accordance with the national policy, rather than companies or group of companies is their own behavior to say whether, many of Japan’s manufacturing industry, with gentle cooperation in the spirit of the sum, voluntarily If we can design a framework that takes action and at the same time incorporates a framework of competition and cooperation, it will become a major international trend. Industry, academia and government will cooperate in their respective positions, from the beginning, without providing a barrier, such as domestic and foreign, advanced in glare both global and local, that will expand their activities to the borderless, international of Manufacturing of Japan We can expect a great presence.
8) Yasuyuki Nishioka, Autonomous Decentralized Platform for “Connected Factory” in the Borderless Era, System Control Information Society Journal, Vol.28, No.3 , System Control Information Society ( 2015 )
