Organized loading schedule system for batch annealing furnace at Kudamatsu Plant, Toyo Kohan Co., Ltd.

T.O.C. (Theory Of Constraints) was first introduced at Kudamatsu Plant in 200 1, when we launched the 3-year project to reform the production system and this project is still proceeding. This was aimed at constructing a competitive manufacturing structure in which our production line could be streamlined and require less resources, less reserved materials, and less inventory within a shorter lead-time than before, dealing with severe competition in manufacturing industries. We have promoted the realization of the production control system based on the belief that it will bring about overall benefit to our plant by maximizing the operation in the bottle neck and boosting the through-put on the whole. As the first step to establish the consistent production plan system, we have developed the organized loading schedule system for the B.A.(Batch Annealing) process. This system was brought into effect in 2002 and has been performing very well so far. This paper describes the advancement made by introducing this system, such as reducing lead-time and labor savings.