Case Study #1

A Problem Solved

One of the Big Three automakers was faced with a haunting problem. After testing its dashboard climate control systems, manual handling of the units resulted in commingling of good parts, bad parts and wrong parts prior to shipment. Parts that failed to meet standards were not removed from the line before being placed in the baskets because the packer couldn't determine their status.

Tapping into data communications that are used in the manufacturing process without interrupting or changing the data flow, Grand Rapids Label designed and implemented a bar code solution.

1. The part is tested on the assembly line.
   
   
2. If the part passes, a bar code label is printed with the part number, shift date and serial number.
   
   
3. If the part fails, the printer/applicator prints a non-barcoded label that has a test data failure code, and the part is removed from the line and segregated.
   
   
4. At pack-out, the operator is able to scan the bar-coded parts in the shipping rack, each serialized, so no duplication of scanning occurs.
   
   
5. The printer/applicator's computer verifies that all parts have scanned correctly, and a master shipping tag is printed and applied to the shipping pallet. If the parts do not scan correctly, no master shipping tag is printed.
   

As a consequence of this system's capabilities, the automaker was able to identify failed parts while creating a valued management report that is sent to the mainframe computer. The report contains summary data on the number of good parts and bad parts produced by shift, the number of failures by part number, and a log of serial numbers for possible recall purposes.