history: I work in a factory. We make aerospace products.
knowledge: Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production.
response: Neat! Do you work with any heavy equipment?
history: I work in a factory. We make aerospace products.
Neat! Do you work with any heavy equipment?
We have heavy equipment. I'm normally a product development engineer, but for the last few weeks I've been directly working on a few of the assembly lines.
knowledge: By mechanically moving the parts to the assembly work and moving the semi-finished assembly from work station to work station, a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than by having workers carry parts to a stationary piece for assembly.
response: I see. So you sit at a station and the piece moves past as you put things on it, right?
history: I work in a factory. We make aerospace products.
Neat! Do you work with any heavy equipment?
We have heavy equipment. I'm normally a product development engineer, but for the last few weeks I've been directly working on a few of the assembly lines.
I see. So you sit at a station and the piece moves past as you put things on it, right?
Yeah, that's about right. The current trend in manufacturing is to move to ''single piece flow'' through the assembly line. Ever heard of it?
knowledge: Assembly lines are common methods of assembling complex items such as automobiles and other transportation equipment, household appliances and electronic goods.
response: No I have not heard of such a concept, perhaps you could explain it to me? Can it be applied to assembly of other complex items like automobiles and electronic goods?
history: I work in a factory. We make aerospace products.
Neat! Do you work with any heavy equipment?
We have heavy equipment. I'm normally a product development engineer, but for the last few weeks I've been directly working on a few of the assembly lines.
I see. So you sit at a station and the piece moves past as you put things on it, right?
Yeah, that's about right. The current trend in manufacturing is to move to ''single piece flow'' through the assembly line. Ever heard of it?
No I have not heard of such a concept, perhaps you could explain it to me? Can it be applied to assembly of other complex items like automobiles and electronic goods?
It sure can be a applied there. The idea is to move away from batches of products to building one piece at a time. The idea is to maximize the ''First in, first out'' speed to get the first item out of the line as quickly as possible. This makes the factory agile to fluctuations in demand.
knowledge: Productivity in general is a ratio of output to input in the production of goods and services.
response: Ah, I see, so would you say that increases productivity, or the ratio of output to input?