Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 913 Modular Production Line
"I think the motor production equipment of Honjo Co., Ltd. is very good. It was obviously modified and upgraded later, and their company has always been mainly engaged in the production of motors, and it also occupies a large share in the Japanese domestic market." Duan Yun After pondering for a while, he continued, "As for the factory we visited in the afternoon, although the machines look relatively new, in fact their production line has no bright spots at all..."

"But I feel that Sankyo Komagane's production line in the afternoon has been used for a shorter period of time..." Zhao Xuewu said with a frown.

"Products without special features are mediocre products, and after we introduce this production line, we will have to modify it later. The original equipment is all gray production line. Although the equipment except for the motor production is indeed inferior to Sankyo Komagane, but they There is not much room for improvement of the production line equipment. On the contrary, although the production line of Honjo Co., Ltd. is old, this production line adopts a modular design from the beginning, which is very conducive to later upgrades and improvements..."

"Modular design?" Zhao Xuewu was taken aback when he heard this.

At the time when he studied electronic technology, the modular design of the production line was still a relatively unfamiliar vocabulary.

In fact, the module production line was just proposed in the 70s. At the end of the 80s, it had already been adopted in factories in some developed countries in Europe and the United States. However, for the same period in China, this concept was only just introduced, and it has not yet been popularized. and practical.

"The so-called modularization is actually easy to understand. This is equivalent to changing the "series" in the circuit to the "parallel" mode..." Duan Yun began to explain the principle of the module production line to Zhao Xuewu.

Taking the production of automobiles as an example, the assembly line model corresponds to the early manual production of automobiles. The characteristic of the model is that the workers who produce the cars are fixed, which requires the workers to master a lot of skills. Every link in the production process of this car must be mastered It takes knowing.

Modular production is to refine the division of labor in production. Workers do not need to know all the knowledge of automobile production, but only need to master the technology of the parts they are responsible for. Specialized division of labor brings about the improvement of production efficiency.

In the past, the biggest problem with assembly line production was that all operating links were "coupled" to each other, and any error in any link could lead to a standstill of the entire production line, which would mean huge economic losses for the enterprise.

Modular assembly eliminates the assembly line and splits the car manufacturing process into more independent processes. Each process has a separate production area or workshop. After any product is assembled with a certain part, it can go to In any workshop with spare capacity, queuing and scheduling are controlled by a digital system, and each personalized electronic terminal will record and arrange production by computer, and clearly know which workshop the product will take and how long it will take to complete the assembly.

In the modular production line system, countless products with different configurations can be produced at the same time, instead of the original production line, each batch can only produce the same configuration of products.

"So that's how it is." Hearing this, Zhao Xuewu was stunned, and then asked Duan Yun in surprise: "This modular production does sound very feasible, but how did you know about this model, Manager Duan? I have been teaching at Taiyuan Institute of Mechanical Engineering for so many years, and this is the first time I have heard of such a production line model.”

"Our domestic enterprises are limited by the planned economic system, and what products they produce are fixed. State-owned enterprises do not need to adapt to market competition and customer requirements to customize products for them. Since they do not need to produce too many varieties of goods, they naturally There is no need for such a modular production line." Duan Yun said with a smile.

"It makes sense!" Zhao Xuewu's eyes lit up when he heard the words, and he said to Duan Yun in an admiring tone: "Manager Duan, you are really amazing. You actually know so many things. No wonder you can successfully start a business at a young age. Sure enough, there is something special about it..."

When Zhao Xuewu visited the Japanese factory this time, he was also very focused and serious, but his observation target was always on the functional parameters and advanced level of a single device, but he did not comprehensively analyze the core operation mode of the entire production line. The concept of modular production line mentioned by Yun just now really made Zhao Xuewu feel refreshed.

Duan Yun's thinking and insights once again surprised Zhao Xuewu, far higher and deeper than his own vision.

"Isn't there a slogan in Shenzhen called "time is money", so production efficiency is very important. If you use the previous assembly line mode, once there is a problem in a certain link, then the entire production line will stop. The loss is huge." Duan Yun paused, and then said: "In addition, the introduction of this production line, in addition to the production of tape recorders, may also be upgraded and improved in the future to produce small tape recorders or Walkmans. Our enterprise is more adaptable to the market competition environment, so our assembly line must have more functions and production capacity, so if the production line we introduced this time has modular functions, then compared with other domestic electronics manufacturers, it will have Very big advantage…”

"Manager Duan, the idea you mentioned is very good, but why do I feel that the production line sold to us by Benzhuang Electronics Factory does not seem to have the ability to produce several products at the same time?" Zhao Xuewu asked suspiciously.

"These little Japanese will not sell us the best things. Some key components and equipment have been dismantled by them, and in my opinion, they should have been used in their new production line. Their new workshop before You have also seen that there are many robots and numerical control devices inside, and the old production line has basically removed the numerical control equipment..." Duan Yun replied.

"I'll just say it!" Zhao Xuewu slapped his thigh when he heard the words, and then said: "When I visited the two workshops of their factory before, I felt that some equipment had similar performance, but some additional electronic devices were obviously added to the appearance. Sure enough, I still have a hand..."

"It's normal to keep one hand. No one can easily sell their own food technology to others, but after this second-hand production line is shipped to China, with Master Zhao and other experts, you will definitely be able to research new ones. As for the modular digital control system, as long as we choose the right direction and concept, sooner or later our electronics factory will become the leading enterprise with the most advanced technology in China!" Duan Yun raised his eyebrows and said.

(End of this chapter)