Nichia Corporation, Japan

For product: Forguncy

Summary

It has never been easy to build a system that centralizes model information throughout the production process of LED products. Forguncy made it possible in just 40 hours. Nichia Corporation is a chemical company with a wide range of high-efficiency, high-quality, and high-reliability LEDs. It is the world’s first mass-production and commercialized manufacturer of high-brightness blue LED. Nichia used Excel VBA to link the chip model number information in the front-end process with the product model number information in the back-end process. There has been a longstanding need to centralize product information in all manufacturing processes. We interviewed Mr. Jun Endo and Ms. Keiko Yoshikawa, Information Technology Development Department; Information and Distribution Division; General Division of the company who developed a product numbering system- Plin (Product Number Information-Link) by Forguncy to address the challenge.

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED- Product Information Was Scattered. Each Department Maintained Product Data Individually

Mr. Jun Endo, Information Technology Development Department, explained the issue that the company faced.
The departments at Nichia are divided into different business units such as business management, production management, and sales management. Each department was conducting business in its own way. They were using respective model masters to maintain product information related to their usage. It was impossible to access LED product information, such as chip-model numbers and product model numbers, of one unit in another unit. There was no provision to manage products centrally. - Mr. Endo

Linking Of Chip and Product Model Number with Excel VBA

The planning department wanted to look at the comprehensive design information of each product, the Design department wanted to see previous manufacturing data, and the sales department wanted to know about the status of product sales. There was a requirement for a system that allowed quick access to everyone to meet their respective department requirements. To achieve this, the unification of product information is necessary.
Mr Endo said, “In order to link independent systems for each department, it takes time and cost, so it was ad hoc. I used Excel macros to collect the necessary information from each system.” With time the number of Excel macros started getting to increase and it was becoming complicated to use them extensively. Mr Endo mentioned that he was not satisfied with the results of macros for their requirements but as there were no other options and somehow, he was able to get the information at the time of need, he had been using macros for a long time.

Challenges before the introduction of Forguncy:

Introduction of Forguncy

Mr. Endo adopted Forguncy as a no-code tool that can centrally manage the product data, that can enable speedy development, and utilize the existing database. “The realization of a centralized management system for model number information has encouraged us to introduce Forguncy. It has improved the working process of our Information Technology Development departments”, said Mr. Endo.
However, the major reason for dissatisfaction with the Excel Macros in our organization was the different and changing requirements of respective departments. Developing and maintaining product models for the individual departments was not cost-effective. Each department or unit had its own needs. “Centralized management of product model number information has always been a need. To meet this, we developed product masters for each department. But it was difficult to make adjustments in the existing model with changing requirements. “- Mr. Endo
It was necessary to have a tool that could be directly connected to each database and quickly implement new business requirements. “I wanted to develop a new system with no-code tools. So, I was doing a lot of research. There were four options including Forguncy. Forguncy can easily access SQL Server to find the required information and represent it in a readable format. Hence, we decided to introduce Forguncy”- Mr. Endo Reasons for introducing Forguncy:

DEVELOPMENT- If You Can Use Excel, You Can Develop Without Problems

Use while making, make while using

The development of Plin began in July 2018 and was put into operation in September 2018. It can collect necessary information from each system based on the model number information and can display it according to the requirements of each business department. “Since I was handling other responsibilities as well so, it took me 40 hours to develop the system all on my own. It could have taken about 1.5 months to develop it with another development way.”- Mr Endo Requirements for new functions were received from users once the operation of Plin was started. “It is an advantage with the Forguncy tool that it can be improved as needed while operating it.”- Mr. Endo

System Development and Refurbishment Can Be Done Immediately

“Ms. Yoshikawa joined the team in July 2019. She was involved in the initialization and operation of packaged products. She evaluates that “Forguncy is a very simple and easy-to-use tool. It is like the Excel. If one has used Excel functions before, Forguncy can be used right away. I used Forguncy for the first time, and from the very beginning, I was able to connect to the SQL server easily. It was a surprise for me! I can respond to requests such as changing the display items of Plin, and requirements for a function that can extract data under different conditions in just an hour. I think that Forguncy tool efficiently speeds up the development process.” “I needed to develop a vaccination app related to the new coronavirus quickly. I developed it in just one day using Forguncy. The fact that how quickly Forguncy has addressed our requirements is very impressive”-Mr. Endo
Later, Forguncy helped us to develop web apps that worked with RPA, domestic, and overseas sales.

EFFECT- Building A System To Address This Problem Company-Wide By Utilizing Forguncy Software

The problem with the Excel macros was that it was difficult for the users to understand if they were not developers. When the person handling Excel macro models changed, a black-boxed situation occurred. But with the Forguncy, there is no such personalization issue associated. We are using it reliably. “It is important to maintain documents to increase the useability of any tool. Forguncy automatically documents table information, screenshots, commands, etc. for each command. It also has a provision for putting comments or notes. So, I am instructing team members to include commands as much as possible.”- Mr. Endo

To Build A User-friendly Environment

The company has prepared the training materials for the Forguncy tool to provide a learning curve. The minimum requirement is a basic understanding of the database. It offers a 90-day trial period for learning. Users are encouraged to develop web applications either for personal use or for the organization in the last 30 days. There are many inquiries from other sections of the company that they would like to try Forguncy. We don’t have any concrete plans yet. Currently, we are using Forguncy within the group, later we will plan for other sections and then for the whole company. So that anyone can develop a web application with Forguncy”.-Mr. Endo In the end, Ms. Yoshikawa points out that there should be a discussion forum and release note sections. “I think it is necessary for efficient results to discuss the development challenges and know about the latest features or bug fixes.”- Ms. Yoshikawa “ I would like to have a user group where we can announce new use-cases and that can be accessed by everyone across the organization”- Mr. Endo