Education for the Manufacturing World of the Future (1985) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
The Changing Face of U.S. Manufacturing
The Changing Face of U.S. Manufacturing
Pages 9-20
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From page 9... ...
Leadership in Manufacturing. The keynote speaker at that meeting, Professor James Brian Quinn of Dartmouth College, documented the declining competitive posture of U.S.
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From page 10... ...
In the first example, a defense electronics contractor improved yield from about 15 percent to over 75 percent through a complex printed circuit line, and found that the labor required for the same operation could be reduced by almost 50 percent. The stimulus for improvement came from visits to Japanese companies producing similar products, where equivalent yields were well over 90 percent, with no apparent difference in technology or tooling.
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From page 11... ...
Companies tend to set standards based on past performance of similar products and whatever they know about domestic competition. From that point of view, cost reductions or quality improvements of a few percent can seem like major accomplishments.
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From page 12... ...
Data processing will be used extensively to receive design information without having to reconfigure for manufacturing, estimate and order material, control inventory, program machines, monitor yields, and program test equipment. Automation will be extensive, encompassing material handling, numerically controlled machines, and closed-loop process control.
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From page 13... ...
Flexible layouts combine group technology that is, part families funneled through a complete machining center- with production lines that enable manning in response to production demand, rapid communication among operators, and efficient material movement. Black and Decker has successfully responded to offshore competition by pioneering these concepts.
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From page 14... ...
The gains include inventory reduction, regained floor space in the plant, shorter schedules, lower costs, and higher quality. The results achieved by a growing number of companies demonstrate what can happen by creating an intellectual climate that challenges entrenched assumptions about how manufacturing plants should be structured.
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From page 15... ...
Many companies which emulated Singer fell into the trap of manufacturing a product with increasing efficiency until it became obsolete, but Samuel Colt, the legendary arms maker, confronted the issue directly. He took American manufacturing into its third stage by institutionalizing constant improvement in process and product technology as a path to achieving competitive advantage.
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From page 16... ...
For several decades, in all too many industries, management effort has been directed away from production and toward marketing and finance. It is time to redress that neglect and reap the benefits of creative integration of a skilled labor force, data processing, and advanced technology into the production process.4 Plato wrote in The Republic: "The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life." Accordingly, in 1984 the Manufacturing Studies Board of the National Research Council commissioned a study of industry-academia cooperation in manufacturing, recognizing that creation of an intellectual climate to carry out the changes discussed here requires that industry and universities focus together on manufacturing technology.
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From page 17... ...
Achieving these ends will require increased technical strength in manufacturing organizations. Recruiting for manufacturing will have to be put on an equal basis with engineering; manufacturing salaries will have to compete with engineering salaries; and continuing education programs must be developed for manufacturing personnel.
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From page 18... ...
At the least, the MSE student should take away a vision of what factories can become, some tools with which he or she can begin to contribute, and the zeal to make the vision a reality. Universities must encourage better students to consider careers in manufacturing by raising admission standards and by stressing manufacturing opportunities in high school recruiting.
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From page 19... ...
Several states have appropriated funds for the establishment of centers of manufacturing technology to encourage regional groups of industries and universities to focus on the generation and dissemination of knowledge in this area. The Ben Franklin Institute in Pennsylvania, the Industrial Technology Institute in Michigan, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Manufacturing Productivity and Technology Transfer in New York, and programs in Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina, and elsewhere are innovative and promising experiments.
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From page 20... ...
2. Available from the Statistical Methods Office, Operations Support Staff, Ford Motor Company, Booklet #80-01-251.
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