Significant Cost Reduction Realized by Breaking Away from Traditional Production Processes
Sankosha Manufacturing Co., Ltd designs, develops, manufactures and sells equipment for the dry cleaning industry. This company realized a considerable reduction in costs as well as an order based production system by using the 2D/3D laser processing machine "SPACE GEAR" to break away from traditional processing methods.
Previous procedures caused many problems
Although Sankosha had plenty of equipments and a well-designed manufacturing line; they had to produce parts in batches in order to minimize costs. However, this production style, forecast based production, resulted in increased inventories because the forecast based production plan never completely matched the actual sales results.
Large reduction in production lead-time and in-process inventories
Sankosha came up with the idea to use square piping instead of flat sheet metal for the parts material and perform cutting by a flexible laser processing machine in order to eliminate several production processes. The equipment selected was the Mazak SPACE GEAR 48, a 2D / 3D laser processing machine. After a major re-design of their products and production procedures, the following benefits were realized. 
- The majority of Cutting, Bending and Welding operations has been integrated.
- By the product re-design, the number of parts was reduced from 68 to 17.
- Considerable reduction in the time required for processing and assembly of large parts - from 15 days down to less than 2
As a result, there are neither storage shelves for sheet metal nor any in-process inventory in their shop.
Realizing Order-Based Production
After the installation of the SPACE GEAR 48, Sankosha simultaneously solved multiple problems, such as process integration, cost reduction, production lead-time, and minimized inventories. As a result, they have successfully shifted their type of manufacturing from a forecast-based system to an order-based production system.
To be a Winner in the Sheet Metal Industry
Today, the sheet metal industry is undergoing a revolutionary transformation as many manufacturers are shifting their equipment from general-purpose machines to CNC machines in a short period of time. Up until recently, shears, press brakes and punch presses were the 3 main machines in the metal sheet industry. However, no punch press was exhibited at IMTS 2002 and only 2 punch presses were exhibited at JIMTOF 2002.
One of the major reasons for this is that production of a variety of parts in small size lots is more important than mass-production of a small variety of parts. In order to remain a winner in the sheet metal industry, it is very important to foresee the future and invest in the equipment that will be required in the future instead of the equipment that is required for today's needs.