From Trial to Two-Plant Rollout at a Truck Components Manufacturer

Pilot expanded to 49 virtual Andon stations across two plants. Full switch from physical buttons to virtual buttons driven by operator adoption.

At a Glance

Detail	Value
Industry	Automotive — Truck & Trailer Components
Facility	Two manufacturing plants on one campus, 50+ workstations
Key Result	Trial system expanded to 49 virtual Andon stations across two plants
Timeline	Demo trial → first purchase within 4 months; second plant live within 6 months
System	Virtual call buttons, watch pagers, beeper pagers, advanced software

The Challenge

This global truck and trailer components manufacturer operates two active plants from a single Midwest campus. Production spans multiple work cells across both facilities, with maintenance technicians, material handlers, quality engineers, and supervisors all needed at various stations throughout the day.

The Operations Manager and Continuous Improvement Coordinator identified a familiar problem: when equipment went down or an operator needed support, there was no structured way to call for help and no data on how long it took for help to arrive.

The specific pain points were:

No response time data. The plant managers wanted to measure support response times but had no system in place to capture when a call was made, when help arrived, or when the issue was resolved.
Material handler coordination. Forklift operators and material handlers served multiple work cells simultaneously. There was no efficient way to route and prioritize material requests.
Two plants, one team. Maintenance and engineering staff covered both plants, making it difficult to know where they were needed most urgently.
No escalation path. When a support call went unanswered, operators had no recourse — the call simply got lost.

Why They Chose an Andon System

The Continuous Improvement Coordinator evaluated the system during a demo trial, specifically testing whether it could replace the informal call-for-help process with something measurable. The plant already had computers at most workstations, which opened the door to an approach that wouldn't require physical call buttons at every station.

During the trial, the team discovered:

Virtual buttons were a better fit than physical buttons. Since every work cell already had a computer, operators could trigger alerts through the browser-based interface without needing dedicated hardware at each station.
Material handlers could use the button board as their pager. Instead of carrying a physical device, forklift operators monitored a tablet displaying the live button board — seeing truck calls the moment they came in.
The reporting immediately surfaced patterns. Even during the trial period, the team was able to see which stations generated the most calls and how long support requests stayed open.

"The system was outstanding and helps us with efficiency."

The Implementation

Phase 1: Demo Trial at Plant 1

The initial trial started with 10 physical call buttons and 10 watch pagers at Plant 1. Within the first weeks, the Continuous Improvement Coordinator began reconfiguring the system to use virtual buttons instead — leveraging the existing computers at each workstation.

The team requested a trial extension to analyze reports further and finalize their configuration. By the end of the trial, the team had validated:

Response time tracking worked across all work cells
Material handlers could operate from the button board display alone
Supervisors received escalation alerts when calls went unanswered
Report data provided the CI team with actionable metrics for kaizen events

Phase 2: Purchase and Full Deployment at Plant 1

After securing capital expenditure approval, Plant 1 went live with:

25 virtual call buttons across all active work cells
7 watch pagers for supervisors, maintenance, and engineers
6 beeper pagers for additional responders
3 multi-chargers to support shift rotations
Advanced software with escalation sequences and full reporting

Material handlers were configured as "ghost pager" recipients — alerts appeared on the button board displayed on their tablets, but no physical pager was required for their role.

Phase 3: Second Plant Rollout

Within months, Plant 3 received its own deployment:

24 virtual call buttons covering all workstations
3 watch pagers and 7 beeper pagers for responders
Dedicated transmitter and software license for independent operation
Transmitter-side repeaters (2611DP) to extend pager range across the facility

Each plant runs its own software instance, allowing independent configuration while following the same escalation and reporting standards.

Phase 4: Continuous Expansion

Over the following 18 months, the manufacturer placed more than a dozen additional orders — adding watch pagers for new staff, upgrading software licenses as workstation counts grew, and adding signal repeaters to eliminate coverage gaps in remote areas of the plants.

The Results

Two Plants Running on a Single Platform

Both plants operate independently but use the same system architecture. The CI team can pull reports from either plant and compare response time metrics across facilities — identifying which plant handles certain call types faster and where process improvements are needed.

Physical Buttons Replaced by Virtual Buttons

The shift from hardware call buttons to virtual buttons eliminated the need for battery-powered devices at each workstation. This meant:

No button batteries to replace
No signal repeaters needed for call buttons (only for pager coverage)
Easier reconfiguration when plant layouts change — adding or moving a virtual button takes minutes in the software

Material Handler Workflow Solved

The "ghost pager" configuration for material handlers proved to be one of the most valuable design decisions. Forklift operators monitor a tablet displaying the button board and see material requests the instant they come in — including which station is calling and what type of request it is. This eliminated the guesswork of which station to serve next.

Reporting Drives Continuous Improvement

With every support call logged — including wait time, response time, and resolution time — the CI team has a continuous stream of data for improvement initiatives. Reports can be filtered by work cell, by call type, by shift, and by responder — giving specific evidence for kaizen events rather than anecdotal observations.

14+ Orders Over Two Years

The manufacturer has expanded the system steadily since the initial purchase — a pattern that reflects ongoing, growing reliance on the Andon data. Each order has added capacity (more pagers, higher software licenses, extended range) rather than replacing failed equipment, indicating sustained adoption across both plants.

What They Said

The Continuous Improvement Coordinator was hands-on with the system from day one — configuring virtual buttons, training operators, and pulling reports. When asked about the direction they chose:

"We're kind of going a little bit different direction — instead of the hardware call buttons, we'll have virtual buttons. Having them log in works out a lot better since we have computers pretty much in every work cell."

The Operations Manager emphasized that the plant managers wanted measurable data on support response, and the system delivered that from the trial period onward. The decision to expand to a second plant came quickly once Plant 1 demonstrated consistent results.

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