Tracking Material and Assets in Plating Factories

Partial plating is an intermediate process for Toshin’s manufacturing customers. The process can often be difficult due to fluctuations in the processing quantity and product type. In addition, the variety and quantity of items have increased, and it has become more difficult to store them in a fixed location due to a shortage of storage space. Since multiple pieces of the same material are delivered with a first-in-first-out method, matching both the type and lot is necessary. Employees end up spending a lot of time searching for materials and stored items, which is a waste of time.

Toshin Industry Co., Ltd

Toshin Industry Co., Ltd., a leading hoop plating company, has achieved low cost, high productivity, and high-quality production by developing new plating methods and a unique production facility. Toshin Industry has 4 factories in Yokohama, Matsumoto, Iwakiyoshima, and Yotsukura for plating the contact points of electronic components e.g. connectors and switches, for smartphones, tablets, and personal computers.

Toshin Industry developed an object-finding system “SAGAS”, and actively looked for technical solutions that could be integrated to provide location information for the system. After comparing various options, including using cameras, beacons, RFID, etc., the company selected the solution “u-Location Q” provided by Ad-Sol Nissin, powered by Quuppa. By installing Quuppa Locators on site and attaching Bluetooth enabled tags to carts, this solution makes it possible to instantly identify the location of the cart, which convinced Toshin Industry that this is the best solution to meet the following requirements:

It enables the acquisition of high-accuracy location information every minute (within 600 mm)

Accurate position measurements are made possible even with high ceilings and in dark places.

It is easy to link with the object finding system “SAGAS”.

Installation and maintenance costs are relatively low.

• [Process Optimization - Real Time Asset Tracking]
  

  The possibility  to operate the equipment during the material search has  also been improved, which has led to a reduction in the time required to search for objects and an improvement in the facility utilisation rate.

•  It used to take on average 20 minutes to search for an item, but it now takes about 2 minutes.