Factory Symposium Manufacturing Engineers: Part 1
Discussing the “Passion and Dedication” of people who take on monozukuri (manufacturing).
The relentless pursuit of precision.
While products may differ, the pursuit of customer satisfaction as well as social contribution remain unchanged. The leaders of Ebara's monozukuri discussed.
The leaders of Ebara’s monozukuri have supported the company's long history. The leaders of our three plants at Futtsu, Fujisawa, and Sodegaura gathered for a roundtable discussion, which was held in two parts. The theme was people’s “Passion and Dedication” toward monozukuri. They also discussed the evolution of monozukuri, including automation and the Internet of Things. The first part of the discussion delved into people’s passion for monozukuri.
Usage of worldwide limited facilities to build large scale pumps of different bore※ sizes
*Diameter of pump inlet or outlet
― The roundtable participants all gathered at the Futtsu Plant. First, they took a long tour of the plant, which manufactures large products that support infrastructure, before moving to the meeting room. As the discussion began, the Fujisawa members gave their candid views on the Futtsu members.
Oshima (Fujisawa): At the Futtsu Plant, the large-scale of the products you handle is just amazing and left me speechless.
Nakayama (Fujisawa): The size of your products is completely different from those at the Fujisawa Plant, so you must get a great sense of accomplishment when you complete each product.
ー The products manufactured in Futtsu are mainly large-scale pumps for tap water distribution and pipelines, etc.. On the other hand, the dry vacuum pumps manufactured at Fujisawa are mainly small, so-called mass-produced pumps. The sizes differ by an order of magnitude.
Watanabe (Futtsu): Futtsu also produces pumps with a bore of several meters, so the machine tools are even larger. Some machines even have a table about 30m long on each side to hold a pump. Prices are also high, with some models costing hundreds of millions of yen at current prices. Because they are such valuable machines, in some cases they are used for 20 or 30 years, and so daily maintenance is a vital part of our job. It’s simple work, but inspections are essential.
Suda: You say it’s simple, but that daily maintenance work has enabled Ebara to have a number of machines and facilities of which there are not many in Japan. It's truly the result of your daily efforts.
ー Like Futtsu, Sodegaura is a plant that focuses on large-scale products. Therefore, its machines are similarly large in size.
Kazami (Sodegaura): I remember when the machines were introduced in 2013, it was said there were only a few of their kind in the world at the time. Such big machinery is not found everywhere, and so Ebara is proud of them. It’s a good environment for people who want to work on large-scale monozukuri.
Furukawa (Sodegaura): When you see their size up close, you get a real sense that the things we make are supporting society. That’s a source of pride for those who work in the field, in a good way.
ー Large-scale products made in Futtsu and Sodegaura often take several months to complete. Fujisawa, on the other hand, basically mass-produces small products.
Nakayama (Fujisawa): Our section manufactures several dry vacuum pumps. If we don't share and deal with anomalies and malfunctions as soon as they occur, many other products will be affected.
ー The different sizes and production volumes of products require different plant facilities and functions. Fujisawa, for example, focuses on automation because it conducts mass production. This will be discussed in detail in a later article.
Micro-level precision is what makes dry vacuum pumps perform well
ー After discussing people’s impressions of Futtsu, the discussion turned to the topic of commitment to monozukuri. What do the members focus on most in their daily work?
Nishiyama (Fujisawa): Our primary focus is on precision processing at the micrometer level. The dry vacuum pumps made in Fujisawa have a structure in which a rotor rotates in its casing without any contact. At this time, the clearance between rotor and casing directly affects pump performance. A gap of several tens of micrometers is required, but if it is too narrow, there may be contact when the rotor expands due to the heat generated during pump rotation. High-precision machining is required to maintain clearance under all conditions, from low temperatures to high temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius, and to achieve high pump performance.
Nakayama (Fujisawa): One of the difficulties of this kind of work is that objects are never actually flat. Even if they are drawn flat in plans, they are not flat when viewed at the micrometer level. Each one varies in shape. The numbers written in pre-production designs are different from the numbers seen by the people in the subsequent manufacturing process, and from the dimensional tolerances (*the range of acceptable error in the dimensions of the drawing). It's our job to coordinate that. Even though the products we make are the same, it's like doing a new development each time.
Maeda (Futtsu): The same is true of the large-scale pumps we make, which we adjust as we go along. The products themselves are heavy, so they distort under their own weight during manufacturing process. We flatten that distortion out before the assembly work.
Watanabe (Futtsu): That's why when machining we basically place them in the same way as the finished products. There are ways to process a product by changing its orientation vertically or horizontally, but in our case, we basically do it in the same orientation as the finished product. That’s because we have to consider gravity. This may be because these are large products.
ー It's not just the dimensions and shapes that are taken into account when making products. Ebara is also particular about materials. For example, large-scale pumps are often used for suction and drainage of seawater. The company therefore conducts seawater corrosion tests so that the materials used are appropriate for a particular region.
Watanabe (Futtsu): The salinity and temperature of seawater varies depending on where a pump is used. I believe that Ebara has been investigating and collecting data on the corrosivity of seawater from around the world. As I recall, it was about 30 years ago. When I heard about it, I was amazed at the company's commitment.
ー Another thing they aim for at Futtsu is putting safety first.
Maeda (Futtsu): Futtsu is like a construction site because of the scale of its products. That's why it puts safety first. The dynamic monozukuri we do based on that is very rewarding.
"Customers are not just buying a piece of steel. They are buying performance. "
ー Sodegaura, too, carries out large-scale monozukuri. That’s why people who have continued to work with products in that area have expressed such satisfaction.
Kazami (Sodegaura): It’s because of the large size of our products and machines that they can only be made here. While there are few other places that could do the work, even the slightest mistake in our own machining process can easily result in a defect. That's why we go about our work with a sense of discipline.
Furukawa (Sodegaura): It’s common for one product to take two or three months to make. When we send them out, we wish “Good luck.” Of course, there's a sense of accomplishment when our products meet the performance our customers want.
A senior colleague told me something a long time ago. He said our customers are not just buying a piece of steel. They are buying Ebara products for their performance. Whether big or small, we have to make things that satisfy customers in terms of performance.
ー We create what customers want. Being passionate about that may be why we pay such attention to each and every item. Such thoughts have also been heard from others.
Maeda (Futtsu): It may sound a bit too simple, but everything we do is for our customers. Of course, it can be hard when we’re working! It is not unusual to have a problem and have to attend to the customer for two or three days to fix it. Once it’s fixed, however, we receive a lot of thanks, and our seniors talk to us about the experience. This gives us more motivation.
Nakayama (Fujisawa): I have experience starting up equipment not only in our plant but also at customers’ plants. When I did that, the customers really appreciated it. I felt very pleased. However, it is also a fact that in the field of monozukuri, there are fewer opportunities to hear directly from customers. It would be nice if there was a opportunity by which that feedback could reach the field more often, because it would be very motivating.
ー Our customers in monozukuri are not only those to whom we deliver our products.
Oshima (Fujisawa): For us in production engineering, the people working on the production floor are also our customers. With that awareness, we try our best to meet the demands of the field. That's why it makes me happy when we make improvements based on requests and achieve our goals. I find it rewarding to have colleagues I can share this happiness with, and since I value human connections, I try to visit and talk with people onsite.
ー At this point, Part 1 of the roundtable discussion came to an end. Next time, the event will move to Fujisawa, where the same members will exchange ideas on the evolution of monozukuri and Ebara's goal for the future of monozukuri. They will also focus on the current state of plant automation, IoT, and data utilization.
