The Toyota Quality Division involves vehicle inspection cells, including drum test, wheel alignment, shower and Customer Satisfaction. Toyota’s objectives were to record and report every single defect, in real time, and alert Quality Managers when serious issues arise by email and SMS.
The ATS Inspect system works as follows. When a vehicle enters the inspection cell, the operator scans the barcode VIN (Vehicle Identifier Number). This vehicle then appears on the system. The Quality operator inspects the vehicle and records any defects found in ATS Inspect using a touch screen.
Any vehicle with defects that cannot be repaired in the Inspection Station is moved to the Hanedashi area (repair area). When the vehicle enters the repair cell, an operator scans the barcode VIN again. ATS Inspect then displays a list of all defects recorded for that vehicle. When rectified, the operator uses ATS Inspect to record that the defects have been repaired.
Real Time Reporting:
A key benefit of ATS Inspect is its ability to feedback information to operators and management alike in real time. The ATS Inspect database structure allows for reporting in any form required. This means that management can review the defect trends and prioritize resources accordingly while the operators can drill-down into the information to see exactly where problems are occurring.
Using ATS Inspect, Toyota has achieved the following:
- A continuing reduction in the number of average defects per month from ± 20.000 to ± 5.000, and dropping
- Removed all paper in the Quality Control Division
- Reduced the number of resources involved with quality data gathering and reporting (retrained and moved in organisation)
- Real time feedback on issues
