Interactive on-line manufacturing and repair system (io-MARS)

The conceptualization of a new manufacturing and repair system began in 199l. This paper explains how the system of 1991 evolved into the system of 1996. The original system proposed consolidating diverse activities into a single, modern facility, built especially for the repair of electronic modules. Management´s role was to coordinate all activities from a central point and repair technicians would be given the tools to communicate with all relevant systems. Only a portion of the similar activities have been consolidated into one building. Management decided that oversight, not control, was a goal that all systems did not need to be fully integrated. The original concept envisioned mainframes for central control. LANs, cable, and fiber optics were the connecting links for workstations and other systems. Technicians would enter data, support systems would supply technical and managerial information and databases would accumulate data and produce information. Support systems would schedule work and deliver items to the work areas, as required, without human intervention. Personnel would be free to devote their time to value added tasks. As the system developed, management realized that people needed stress relief and social contact. People needed to leave their work area for breaks; therefore, they created reasons to leave their work area, such as manually scheduling workload or going to the storage location to query the operator about a specific part and then hand carry that part back to the workbench. Full integration of support systems with io-MARs is coming with Internet and Netscape, a new technology not envisioned in the original plans. End item tracking, automated storage and retrieval recording of repair processes; and some integration to outside systems have been completed. But automated material stocking and ordering, production control, test processing, videogenics, certification of processes and people, and failure analysis are enhancements we are still developing