Suntory Beverage & Food and Hitachi developed the system that automatically creates optimal production plans utilizing AI through collaborative creation, and will put it into practical use as of January 2019. Previously, the formulation of a single production plan took approximately 40 hours per week, with multiple skilled personnel considering various requirements. In this system, which combines Hitachi's AI technology and Suntory's planning knowhow, it is possible automatically create a production plan which are both feasible and optimal, within the short period of approximately 1 hour.
By introducing this system at main in-house and outsourced plants in Japan, Suntory aims to optimize its production plans for all areas in Japan, establish a framework for the stable supply of products to meet fluctuating demand, increase productivity by improving workflow efficiency, and realize workstyle reforms.
Beverage manufacturers have come under increasing pressure in recent years to supply products quickly and flexibly in response to market trends such as the diversification of consumer needs and fluctuations in demand caused by the weather. Manufacturers need to create optimal production plans which meet fluctuating demand and also take complex constraint conditions such as delivery dates, production capacity, and production and transport costs into consideration.
At Suntory, production planners previously created production plans based on their own experience. However, the creation of plans considering complex constraint conditions requires a high level of skill, and takes a large amount of time. Moreover, production plans focused on individual production areas, therefore only achieving optimization of specific areas rather than achieving overall optimization through the effective utilization of all production resources.
In response to this situation, Suntory-an innovator of manufacturing activity including SCM(1)-and Hitachi-a provider of solutions for the manufacturing and distribution industries through its Lumada(2) utilizing advanced digital technologies-teamed up to develop a system which can formulate optimal production plans even under fluctuating demand and complex constraint conditions. The development was conducted through collaborative creation combining Suntory's planning knowhow and Hitachi's AI technology, based on the concept of "Harmony between People and AI," and with the cooperation of Hitachi Consulting Co., Ltd., which possesses wide-ranging knowledge of consulting in the manufacturing industry. As a result of applying the system in production planning at Suntory's actual production locations and conducting trials to validate the effects, it was found that the system offered an outlook for shortening the time-which previously required approximately 40 hours per week to create an average-to around one hour. Suntory has therefore decided to commence actual operation of the system at main in-house and outsourced domestic plants as of January 2019.
Moving forward, through the utilization of digital technology such as this system, Suntory will seek to increase productivity and promote workstyle reforms, and to bolster its initiatives aimed at achieving effective utilization of resources.
Hitachi plans to adapt the system developed on this occasion into a general-purpose system, and to deploy it as one of its Lumada solutions for the manufacturing industry.
