4 ms·

It was an exercise in creative problem solving. I'd query the data to find out where on the line the most (costly x incidence) problems were occurring and then

It was an exercise in creative problem solving. I'd query the data to find out where on the line the most (costly x incidence) problems were occurring and then devise a solution. If a worker was scratching the paint every time he put his tool down the secure a fastener, we'd get a heavy rubber guard fabricated, change his man assignment and have him put down the guard before he did his little peice, or even better change the tool if that was possible. If you are curious, yes there were workers who would damage the vehicle every time and let it go to rework. Don't even get me started on labor. :)

dilemma 10y ago
>Don't even get me started on labor. :) Wow.
- softawre 10y ago
  Well, programmers do the same thing. Blah blah make better software blah blah world makes better idiots.
rblatz 10y ago
Let me guess when asked why they said "that's how we've always done it"
- grizzles 10y ago
  Haha, yep. That or a complaint about their man assignment changing and it being hard to keep up.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
alphapapa 10y ago
How did they gather comprehensive data like that? Seems like you'd need an employee to watch every employee, recording everything they did.
- grizzles 10y ago
  The line is Body Shop->Paint->Trim->Chassis->Final Vehicle. Final Vehicle is concerned with testing and certification and whatever other finishing touches need to be performed. It also operates the repair department, and the 'yard' with all the defect jobs. Our yard was so packed the company was renting new yards away from the factory. The repairmen who worked in the bays and yard were stone cold experts on the vehicles and they kept written logs. Those logs were typed up and put in the database by the office clerks. These were mostly signal. There were also networked terminals at some stations but not all down the line. Finding the root cause of an issue was basically like git-bisect. You knew where a part was added and where it ended up. So you just needed to narrow it down. For a high priority issue, I'd go do a visual inspection myself at the mid station before a part got covered by another part. Broken? Go to the mid station between here and start. Not broken, go the other way. We got stumped sometimes, but mostly we could narrow it down pretty fast. For the workers, it's impossible to lose your job so there isn't a care factor about covering up shoddy workmanship.
  - bobsil1 10y ago
    Binary search :)

dilemma 10y ago

>Don't even get me started on labor. :) Wow.

softawre 10y ago
Well, programmers do the same thing. Blah blah make better software blah blah world makes better idiots.

rblatz 10y ago

Let me guess when asked why they said "that's how we've always done it"

grizzles 10y ago
Haha, yep. That or a complaint about their man assignment changing and it being hard to keep up.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

alphapapa 10y ago

How did they gather comprehensive data like that? Seems like you'd need an employee to watch every employee, recording everything they did.

grizzles 10y ago
The line is Body Shop->Paint->Trim->Chassis->Final Vehicle. Final Vehicle is concerned with testing and certification and whatever other finishing touches need to be performed. It also operates the repair department, and the 'yard' with all the defect jobs. Our yard was so packed the company was renting new yards away from the factory. The repairmen who worked in the bays and yard were stone cold experts on the vehicles and they kept written logs. Those logs were typed up and put in the database by the office clerks. These were mostly signal. There were also networked terminals at some stations but not all down the line. Finding the root cause of an issue was basically like git-bisect. You knew where a part was added and where it ended up. So you just needed to narrow it down. For a high priority issue, I'd go do a visual inspection myself at the mid station before a part got covered by another part. Broken? Go to the mid station between here and start. Not broken, go the other way. We got stumped sometimes, but mostly we could narrow it down pretty fast. For the workers, it's impossible to lose your job so there isn't a care factor about covering up shoddy workmanship.
- bobsil1 10y ago
  Binary search :)