Nissin Seiki Adopts 'Smart Craft' and Halves Defect Rate. Ending Paper Operations and Real-time Data Utilization Root Field-driven Spontaneous Improvement Activities

Nissin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Ota-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takao Ito; hereinafter "Nissin Seiki") has achieved operational efficiency and halved the defect rate on the manufacturing floor through field-driven DX promotion by introducing the cloud process management and performance collection system "Smart Craft" provided by Smart Craft Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Fumiya Ukibe; hereinafter "our company"). [Header] Background of Introduction While Nissin Seiki had advanced DX in indirect departments and achieved results, paper-based operations had continued for many years on the manufacturing floor. As quality demands from customers increased, various challenges existed regarding the burden on the worksite and the utilization of data. Triggered by a proposal from the site staff, the decision was made to introduce our company's "Smart Craft". Increased On-site Burden due to Paper Operations It took time and effort to print, distribute, and collect 70 to 80 forms per day. Furthermore, there was an obligation to store forms for 16 years according to the rules of business partners, and securing physical storage space for the daily accumulating paper had become a major issue. Delays in Improvement Activities due to Aggregation Time Lags Because paper forms filled out on-site were manually entered into Excel and aggregated by the indirect department, results could only be confirmed the following month. Even if a problem occurred, investigations and countermeasures were delayed, and fundamental improvement activities could not proceed smoothly. Personalized Information Management Inventory management and other tasks were individually managed on the computers of specific personnel, personalizing the information. A system was needed to centralize this so anyone could grasp the situation in real time. Personalization also caused delays in business improvements. [Header] Deciding Factor for Introducing Smart Craft While feeling the necessity of DX for these challenges, Nissin Seiki believed that a top-down system introduction from management would be difficult to establish on-site. Under such circumstances, the deciding factor was that the site staff themselves proposed our company's "Smart Craft" to solve the issues. As a result of comparing the products of four companies including Smart Craft, it was highly evaluated for covering production planning, performance collection, quality records, and inventory management in a single system, and for its highly operable, simple design from a site perspective. After the decision to introduce, with our company's support, it was established on-site in an expedited period of about one month. [Header] Effects After Introduction With the introduction of Smart Craft, operational efficiency at Nissin Seiki has drastically improved, and active data utilization by site employees is progressing. Halved Defect Rate and Improved Improvement Speed Data entered on-site is now reflected in real time, shortening the data confirmation period from the following month to the same or next day. Specific analysis of which part numbers have which defects most often became possible, and by clarifying the countermeasures, it has produced a result of more than halving the average defect rate compared to FY2024. Overwhelming Reduction in Man-hours for Aggregation and Management Tasks The complicated work of clerks transcribing paper contents into Excel and the plant manager processing them into Pareto charts to return to the site is no longer necessary, greatly reducing the time required for performance collection. Establishment of Spontaneous On-site Improvements In addition to being a tool selected by the site staff themselves, visualizing the results of their work through data has strongly rooted the consciousness of "acting on our own by looking at the results" in the workplace. [Header] Voices of Stakeholders Satoshi Nakamura, President and CEO, Nissin Seiki Co., Ltd. "Rather than top-down, the proposal from the site saying 'We want to use Smart Craft' was..."