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Information Technology for Manufacturing A Research Agenda (1995) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B Site Visit to Romeo Engine Plant, March 23, 1994
Pages 165-168

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From page 165...
... The plant buys about 70 percent (by value) of what it ships and devotes most of its energy to machining engine blocks, pistons, connecting rods, and crank shafts and then assembling everything into a complete tested engine ready to install in a car.
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From page 166...
... HOW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IS USED In addition to the white courtesy phones, IT is used in several other ways at the Romeo engine plant. For example: · In the tool crib, an electronic display indicates how to set up each tool and adjust it for proper alignment prior to installing it on a machine.
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From page 167...
... . Each week performance data on each section of the plant accumulated by the PLCs are collected and packaged into Pareto charts that identify bottleneck stations and the top 10 reasons for their failing to keep up; recent data are compared to 7-week trends so that plant personnel can tell if they are making progress in improving uptime; these reports are available to all employees on the white courtesy phone consoles.
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From page 168...
... However, Pfeil and his staff use it to plan production a week ahead as well as to see if their plans produce the anticipated production of all the required varieties of engines. Although basic training of new employees is done using company-wide course material, Romeo found that it had to generate its own advanced training curricula.
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Key Terms

  • courtesy phones
  • romeo engine
  • preventive maintenance
  • engine plant
  • shop floor

  • pfeil notes
  • machining engine
  • engine blocks
  • floor personnel
  • plant running

  • pfeil calls
  • common programmable
  • human relations
  • training starts
  • commercial factory

  • plans produce
  • highly automated
  • proper alignment
  • frank keene
  • training materials

  • transfer operation
  • class exercise
  • relations strategy
  • tool crib
  • production complexity

  • lines moving
  • recent data
  • factory scheduling
  • required varieties
  • electronic display


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