• Production System • Concurrent Engineering • Quality Engineering

Concurrent Engineering is one of the important key words of the TAKAHATA production system. Various processes of product development are conducted concurrently in order to bring products to market more quickly and assure higher profitability. CAD/CAM/CAE systems are conventionally installed on the manufacturers’ side. As most of the systems are used in closed loops within individual departments, only those departments benefit from the systematization effect. The introduction of concurrent engineering allows different departments within TAKAHATA to execute various production processes at the same time. This reduces the incidence of design errors in upstream departments and shortens the time from product development to product completion. CAD/CAM/CAE systems are simply tools to support concurrent operations. Though important to concurrent engineering, they are by no means the most important. The factors of "System" and "Organization" hold this distinction. When building the database, for example, it must be sufficiently integrated to allow separate processes to retrieve data on products under development whenever necessary. In setting up the organization, personnel involved in related processes must communicate smoothly to facilitate decision making. Concurrent engineering at TAKAHATA isn’t just another new production system. •Important Factors of Concurrent Engineering   System Organization Supporting technology Design Reserve scheduling Early determination of specifications High-quality design Virtual prototype New evaluation system (Y-ELF) Cross-sectional project Development personnel design system Collocation (deployment by functional proximity) Parallel action CAD Production Production cycle materials: procurement Produce right first time Lean production - - VE Concurrent VE - -