An 80% Reduction from Jig Design to Ordering Drawings: Takahashi Metal Industries and WOGO Develop a Welding Jig Automated Design System

In manufacturing, an ageing engineering workforce and a shortage of successors have made it urgent to pass on technical expertise and improve efficiency at the same time. On the metalworking floor in particular, jig design demands specialist knowledge and takes up a great deal of engineers’ time, pushing the technology development and creative work they should be focusing on to the back of the queue.

Takahashi Metal Industries Co., Ltd. is an integrated metal forming manufacturer whose management philosophy is to be a company that makes the world better as it grows, and which has delivered superplastic forming and advanced environmental technology products around the world. Its strengths – a one-stop service covering everything from design to finished product, and the ability to solve customers’ problems through technology – help many companies raise the value of their own products.

WOGO has now developed, jointly with Takahashi Metal, a Welding Jig Automated Design System that largely automates the process from welding jig design through to the creation of ordering drawings. This article covers the background to the development, the reasons WOGO was chosen, and the results it has produced.

1. The challenge – engineers buried in jig design work

At Takahashi Metal, jig design – which underpins product quality and stability – had been a challenge for many years. Jig design involves both routine work that can be standardised and technical work that calls for deep experience and creativity. Because the same engineers had to handle both, there was never enough time left for technology development or other high-value work.

“Developing engineers is a challenge for the manufacturing industry as a whole, and it is a significant one for us. Jig design in particular underpins the quality and stability of what we make, and it contains both standardised, routine work and technical work that requires creativity – and our engineers had to do all of it. Securing time for technology development was the problem.”

For engineers to make the most of their specialist knowledge and creativity, automating repetitive work and creating an environment where they can concentrate on what only people can do was essential.

2. Why WOGO – believing in an automation they had all but given up on

Behind Takahashi Metal’s decision to work with WOGO were a chance matching and the strong sense of common ground that grew out of it.

It started at a startup open innovation event held in Shiga Prefecture. Automating jig design had always been technically demanding, and it was a theme Takahashi Metal had all but given up on. The rapid advance of AI and digital technology, and the cutting-edge technology of startups, suggested new possibilities – and led to the meeting with WOGO.

“At first we had more or less given up on automating jig design, but recent progress in digital technology and AI, together with the advanced technology of startups, showed us it might be possible, and the matching with WOGO came about. WOGO’s strength is 3D × AI technology, yet they took a genuine interest in metalworking and picked up our problems smoothly – we felt a real affinity. It also made a strong impression that everyone there clearly enjoys their work, and that made us want to work with them.”

Solid expertise in 3D × AI technology, combined with a sincere interest in the manufacturing floor. That combination is what decided it for Takahashi Metal.

3. The solution – jig design completed simply by feeding in a 3D model

What we developed is a Welding Jig Automated Design System that automates the process from welding jig design through to ordering drawings in a single flow.

Jig design used to require CAD work and design judgement from experienced engineers, taking considerable time and specialist knowledge. With this system, simply feeding a 3D model into the software places the jig components automatically and outputs the ordering data and assembly drawings.

This automates the routine part of jig design, so that even staff who cannot operate CAD can order jigs. Engineers can concentrate on the technical work that calls for creativity, and both design time and production lead time have been substantially reduced.

4. How Takahashi Metal rates WOGO on the project

Through the project, what Takahashi Metal valued most was WOGO’s responsiveness and the quality of its communication.

“Despite the distance, they came to us straight away and interviewed us while looking at the shop floor. Requirements definition and the rest were handled through frequent web meetings, which kept us aligned and let things run smoothly. They showed us a demo version early on, and frankly their development speed was astonishing. Their responsiveness and quick replies gave us a real sense of WOGO’s drive and technical ability.”

A willingness to visit the site, close communication through frequent web meetings, and a development process that turned the feedback loop quickly by providing an early demo – together, these underpinned the success of the project.

5. The effects felt today, and the impact expected ahead

The greatest benefit of the system, they say, is the time it has given engineers back. Compared with the previous design and ordering process, it has achieved an 80% reduction in workload.

“The biggest effect is that we secured time for our engineers. We cut the workload by 80% compared with our previous design and ordering time.”

Next, the system will be refined further and its coverage extended to more products. Adding mistake-proofing (poka-yoke) features for production, and allowing jig ordering to be completed on the shop floor, are expected to shorten product lead times and stabilise quality further.

6. Looking ahead – returning the asset of time to the manufacturing floor

Takahashi Metal sees this work as a starting point, and envisages extending the use of AI, digital technology and automation much further.

“We believe time is the most valuable asset of all. The key is how far we can extend AI, digital technology and automation – as ways of using time well – into areas that have been difficult until now. Creating free time for engineers to imagine, and time on the shop floor to concentrate on making things, is an asset for growth. We hope to keep creating with WOGO, using 3D × AI technology to improve our operations in ways no other company could.”

Drawing on what it learned working with Takahashi Metal, WOGO will continue to advance 3D × AI technology on the manufacturing floor. Picking up the true nature of a problem directly on site, and delivering software that solves it precisely – that is the manufacturing DX that Takahashi Metal and WOGO are pursuing together.