Traceability via Voice Data entry

The manufacture of high reliability electronic black boxes requires traceability, which, in essence, is the availability of data that creates a road map from the final product down to the microscopic semiconductor chip on a microelectronic hybrid assembly.The information is usually recorded by each operator and is eventually keyboard entered into a computer for a storage in a data bank. Alternative methods for data recording and entry were investigated. Voice data entry was selected. A system using fifteen voice data entry terminals in conjunction with a minicomputer, which in turn inputs into an IBM 370, was installed. This permits a multiplicity of programs to be used with a multiplicity of voice data entry terminals all operating simultaneously. The system has completed production trials and is now in full use in the Microelectronics Production Department at the Lockheed Missile Systems Division.