The Handicapped Development Center, a Davenport, Iowa, small business, recently delivered 110 M198 howitzer hydraulic power assist kits, or HyPAKs. The HDC, a non-profit community organization, serves the needs of people with disabilities by teaching them job skills and daily living skills. The HDC also provides paid work in a realistic work environment. One assembly line performs autobagging, which involves packing parts into small plastic bags.
HDC workers place the specified number of parts that go in each bag on a divided area.
This allows them to keep track of the number of parts they must pack into each bag. On the second assembly line, the small bags are packaged into larger bags. And on the third line, the larger parts are placed in the box, along with the bags. The kits, consisting of a hydraulic pump, solenoid box, filter assembly, hoses and fittings, are checked and weighed to ensure that there are no parts missing. If a box s weight is off by even a few ounces, it is unpacked and checked for errors.