Company Overview
JTEKT Corporation is a comprehensive machinery manufacturer specializing in steering systems, bearings, and machine tools. The company supplies products to a wide range of industries including automotive, steel, railways, aerospace, construction equipment, agricultural machinery, and wind power generation.
The Kokubu Plant, where we conducted this interview, is the birthplace of the company's bearing business and serves as a core manufacturing facility producing various bearing products. The plant is advancing carbon neutrality through three pillars: energy conservation, renewable energy, and technological innovation.
Interviewees
- Mr. Asai — CN/CE Strategy Office
- Mr. Aragaki — Kokubu Plant, Manufacturing Technology Dept., Facilities Management Section, Project Manager
- Mr. Tomeoku — Chief
What Triggered Air Leak Countermeasures
JTEKT had long recognized the problem of air leaks but found it difficult to take the first step, as they were unsure how to identify leak locations or approach the issue. Energy-related discussions were limited to figures such as CO2 emissions and electricity consumption, making it difficult for on-site workers to relate to the problem on a practical level.
As a starting point, AirMore conducted an air leak diagnostic service at the Tokushima Plant. Leak locations were identified and a report was provided that ranked leaks by severity, with the cost of each leak clearly quantified. By expressing the results in terms of "cost reduction" and "manufacturing cost savings" rather than CO2, on-site awareness underwent a significant transformation.
Adoption and Selection of Visualization Camera
Following the success of the diagnostic service, the decision was made to adopt a visualization camera for continuous in-house air leak countermeasures. The plant had previous experience with JFE Advance's older and newer models, as well as the LF10, but the LF10's cloud-based data output had been a bottleneck in the factory environment.
Subsequently, the AlgoLeak was selected. Its detection performance using 64 microphones was highly rated as providing adequate sensitivity for manufacturing environments without picking up excessive noise — striking just the right balance. The low initial cost and simple data input/output also played a decisive role in the adoption.
Results
Through approximately one year of air leak improvement activities, the following results were achieved.
It was also revealed that 4-5% of the entire Kokubu Plant's CO2 emissions were attributable to air leak losses. The camera is operated on a quarterly cycle, efficiently driving improvements through a cycle of detection, repair, and subsequent rounds of inspection.
A Culture of Improvement Spreading Across the Entire Factory
What was most impressive was how air leak countermeasures dramatically changed the culture of improvement across the entire factory. At the Tokushima Plant, where the initial diagnosis was conducted, the response was so enthusiastic that staff excitedly reported findings to supervisors during lunch breaks. At the Kokubu Plant as well, momentum grew for the entire team to work together on air leak detection and repair.
What had initially been seen as a tedious task gradually transformed into an activity that staff "enjoyed like a treasure hunt." By integrating the effort with each department's improvement activities (a creative suggestion program), results were tallied and teams competed with each other, creating a system of mutual motivation.
Additionally, departments that had previously gone unnoticed were now spotlighted, and having each department's importance quantified through data became a significant secondary benefit. Air leak improvement has become an initiative that connects the realities of production floors and support functions through numbers, enhancing a sense of unity across the entire organization.
Outlook for Carbon Neutrality
JTEKT's carbon neutrality strategy consists of three pillars: energy conservation, renewable energy, and technological innovation. While air leak countermeasures fall under energy conservation, they have a strong cost reduction aspect, and the company shared their vision of creating a virtuous cycle for carbon neutrality by reinvesting the savings into renewable energy and new technologies.
Going forward, challenges include rolling out operating procedures to production departments and finding ways to perform rapid leak repairs within production schedules that cannot be halted. Currently, under the motto "stop, eliminate, reduce," the plant is pursuing early detection and rapid response through a framework that combines floor-led activities with support from the facilities management team.