NAKAMURA CHOUKOU CO., LTD.

Active in a New Factory That Slices Millions of Silicone Ingots Each Month

Nakamura Choukou Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells "DINA-PRISM", a diamond saw wire cutting tool that is essential to the slicing process of electronic materials used for solar panels and LEDs. This company develops unique diamond wire technology. This technology is used to commercialize the slice processing of silicon ingots. A manufacturing execution system (MES) is used to manage this manufacturing process to improve their work efficiency and quality, and lower costs.

Keyword

ERP MES

Industry

Manufacturing

Purpose

Cost savings
Manpower-saving
Work efficiency improvement

Major Contribution to Growing Fields such as Solar Panels and LEDs

Nakamura Choukou manufactures precision equipment parts and jigs with high hardness materials such as ultra hard alloys and polycrystalline diamond (PCD). Recently, the company manufactures and sells "DINA-PRISM", a diamond saw wire cutting tool that is essential to the slicing process of electronic materials used for solar panels and LEDs.

Diamond saw wire uses a unique fixing method for its diamond grains to provide a product with high performance at a low cost.

Nakamura Choukou received the 4th Japan Grand Prize Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) Minister’s award in 2012 for its technology.

Izumi Factory (D-Next) performing slice processing

Diamond saw wire, winner of the Japan Grand Prize METI Minister’s award

Mass-production System for Slicing Process Using MES at its Core Constructed in 8 Months

Nakamura Choukou was subcontracted by a major electronic manufacturer to slice silicone ingots, but advanced data management, such as production traceability and operation rate, was required, and this could not be handled with the existing basic system. This was managed using their own tools and bills, but it required a lot of effort, and the manual work led to a lot of errors and a host of other problems.

As a result and to meet the increased production of a million units per month, Contec's management execution system (MES) was introduced with the purpose of boosting business efficiency. Although the normal period from system request to delivery requires one or two years, a short turnaround of only eight months was realized to meet the operations of the new factory.

Manufacturing process of slicing process

System Configuration

Nakamura Choukou constructed a system that handles increased production by predicting the processing quantity to 20 to 30 times the quantity actually produced.

Contec listened carefully to Nakamura Choukou's needs and demands, and developed a solution based on its history of implementing systems to the slice processing work. This MES is called the "D-CORE system".

System Configuration

Implementation Effects

Quality and cost goals were achieved by standardizing the production process and integrating product management and quality data with the MES.

Reduced work load and improved quality as a result of integrated product management and quality data for production and receiving and shipping for the entire factory
Reduced indirect work time in the manufacturing process, increased production efficiency, and reduced costs
Process management using a handset terminal and barcodes and the ability to get progress updates in real-time

Adoption Points

Construction of a team project system to reduce the system development time
System design that uses the slice processing implementation history and anticipates future production increases
Use of own developed software to flexibly respond to requirements that are difficult to achieve with package software customization

Customer Profile

Comment from Yutaka Watanabe, Section Chief, Management Division: We needed to quickly create a system to manage mass production, with which we had no experience, and building one from scratch would involve huge risks. But instead of going with a package software, we had Contec develop a solution and make a proposal based on our products and operations starting from the estimate stage. At the time, we created an outline design that we were unsure of and didn't allow us to envision the final shape of the manufacturing management. However, we worked together with Contec to construct a system while taking our concerns into consideration. They supported us during the system construction, and even now where operations are at more than 10 times the production volume, we have no problems with operation and have been able to add new functions. We look forward to continue working with them in the future as the ultimate partner for system construction.

Nakamura Choukou Co., Ltd.

Solutions

Manufacturing execution system (MES)
- Recently in the manufacturing industry, not only is production lead-time being shortened to meet the trend of short product lifecycles and small lot production, but competitiveness is increasing through higher quality and lower prices, and there is a need to increase the overall corporate strength. Therefore, a comprehensive optimization is required not only at the production site but also at the management level and in each department. Contec supports MES construction to optimize the manufacturing industry.
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    Manufacturing Execution System. Conveying the information required to optimize production activities, from taking orders to completing the product in the manufacturing industry.

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