Patent ID: 7195156

Claim:
A mobile parts station for use in a manufacturing process,comprising: a manufacturing kit having a plurality of independent part compartments for holding differing compent parts to be used in a specific work task; a network interface to receive manufacturing kit specification data; a processor in communication with said network interface to process said received manufacturing kit specification data and to provide information to a user to aid said user in replenishing said manufacturing kit with parts from an external parts supply; a barcode scanner in communication with said processor to read barcode data associated with said manufacturing kit, to thus inform said processor of a specific type of said manufacturing kit being used; a display in communication with said processor for generating a manufacturing kit map for guiding replenishment of parts to said kit, said kit map including a map overlay illustrating said manufacturing kit; and said display allowing a user to select a specific one of a plurality of differing manufacturing kits from said display before beginning a part replenishment operation.