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SERU manufacturing system

SAPTHA N (1DS12MEM11) Project guide, Dr. S. A. Vasanth kumar

What is SERU
Unit with one/few workers

Problems in SSI
Resources management Capital investment Absenteeism Other organisation troubles

Seru Seisan an innovation of the production management Mode in Japan ChenGuang Liu, Jie Lian, Yong Yin, WenJuan Li Asian Journal of Technology Innovation

Seru Seisan, also called beyond lean in many Japanese manufacturing industries, is an innovation of the production management mode in Japan. Although an increasing number of manufacturing enterprises in Japan have been adopting this strategy with great success, it is not popular among manufacturing enterprises and researchers out of Japan. This paper provides a brief introduction of Seru Seisan to promote the strategy worldwide. First, a report on the origin of Seru Seisan and an analysis on its generation background are provided. Second, the differences between Seru Seisan and the conventional cell production are shown. The characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of Seru Seisan are also investigated. A summary of the Seru modalities that appear during its evolution is presented as well. Finally, several key problems for further research on Seru Seisan are presented.

Seru: The
Organizational Extension of JIT for a Super-Talent Factory
International Journal Strategic Decision Sciences, 3 (2012),p. 1 K. Strecke, Y. Yin, I. Kalu, Y. Murase
The Toyota production system (TPS) or lean has long been regarded as a powerful approach for managing manufacturing factories. However, in the early 1990s, the TPS was found not to work when it was applied to Japanese electronics companies. TPS is fit for a stable, but not volatile, business environment such as that which the electronics industry belongs. This volatile environment can be described as one with short product life cycles, uncertain product types, and fluctuating production volumes (sometimes mass, sometimes batch, and sometimes very small volumes). Seru, a new production organization, was developed to cope with this environment. Many leading global companies such as Samsung, Sony, Canon, Panasonic, LG, and Fujitsu have adopted seru. Seru overcame a lot of disadvantages inherent in TPS and brought amazing benefits to seru users. For example: 1) Seru requires a much smaller workforce, 2) It can greatly reduce space requirements, and 3) It can reduce lead time, setup time, WIP inventories, finishedproduct inventories, and cost. This article introduces serus history and defines various seru types. A seru pyramid is constructed to compare seru with the TPS. A JIT organization system is introduced. The authors show why applying it can bring great productivity, efficiency, and flexibility to a production organization.

An implementation framework for seru production


ChenGuang Liu1, Kathryn E. Stecke2, Jie Lian1, Yong Yin1,3 Article first published online: 22 APR 2013 DOI: 10.1111/itor.12014 2013 Issue International Transactions in Operational Research

Seru production, which merges the flexibility of job shops, efficiency of mass production, and environment friendly characteristics of sustainable manufacturing, largely for electronics assembly, is the latest manufacturing mode developed in Japan. It is receiving attention from Japanese practitioners and researchers. However, some attempts to implement seru production are unsuccessful, especially outside Japan. This is because of lack of knowledge of the specific means to implement seru production. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general framework and some basic principles that should be followed while implementing seru production for practitioners from a practical perspective. This work is based on a systematic analysis of many implementation experiences of seru production in Japanese manufacturing factories as well as a broad investigation of the popular literature information. The proposed framework can serve as a concise guide to help implement seru production in the manufacturing industry. In addition, constructive information is provided for researchers who would like to know and study the advanced manufacturing mode of seru production but do not understand the Japanese language.

THE EVOLUTION OF SERU PRODUCTION SYSTEMS THROUGHOUT CANON

NeilsonJournals Publishing
Yin, Y.; Kaku, I.; Stecke, K

Since the 1970s, Japanese manufacturing firms continue giving big surprises with strong impact to Western industries and academia. The first was the Toyota Production System (TPS). It has been imitated by many companies all over the world and has also motivated thousands of publications in the business press. The second was the knowledge-creating process, which has become a basic theory for knowledge management. The concept of the knowledge-creating company was developed by Ikujiro Nonaka, whose classic article, The Knowledge-Creating Company (1995), was one of the most influencial management pieces in the last century. Since then, another manufacturing innovation decompose assembly conveyor lines to serus has occurred in Japanese industries. It is still largely unknown outside Japan. This case describes serus through one of its most successful practicers: Canon. Through this case, we understand why and how seru helps make Canon and many other Japanese companies so successful.

References
1. De Toni A., Panizzolo R. Villa A., 2013. Gestione della Produzione (Production Management, in Italian), ISEDI. 2. Enns, S.T., Rogers, P., 2008. Clarifying CONWIP versus push system behaviour using simulation, in Proceeding WSC 08 Proceedings of the 40th Conference on Winter Simulation, 1867-1872 3. C.G. Liu, J. Lian, Y. Yin, W. Li Seru Seisan- An Innovation of the Production Management Mode in Japan Asian Journal of Technology Innovation, 18 (2010), p.2 4. Miyake, D.I., 2006. The Shift from Belt Conveyor Line to Work-cell Based Assembly Systems to Cope with Increasing Demand Variation and Fluctuation in The Japanese Electronics Industries, CIRJE Discussion Papers, http://www.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cirje/research/03research02dp.html. 5. K. Strecke, Y. Yin, I. Kalu, Y. Murase : The Organizational Extension of JIT for a Super-Talent Factory International Journal Strategic Decision Sciences, 3 (2012), p. 1

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