TABLE OF CONTENTS Raw data are at the heart of all information systems. In a manufacturing environment, a large amount of data is generated on the shop floor itself, and shop-floor data collection represents the way this data is to be collected in order to improve shop-floor performance. After examining exactly what is meant by shop-floor data collection and why we would wish to do it, the technologies used in this area will be examined in detail, from bar codes to voice recognition systems, finishing off by looking at how people may react to the introduction of this technology.
A sample of manufacturing managers' definitions of shop-floor data collection (SFDC), collected by the IB Consulting group survey, included replies such as collecting data from the factory floor , collecting and presenting information on machine status, staff attendance, quality losses, scrap, etc. and networked information system available to management and operators and providing real-time and historical process data (Quinn, 1994). In essence, SFDC is about finding out exactly what is happening on the factory floor as a starting point for improving manufacturing performance. Shop-floor information includes:
process yield and scrap;
machine performance and usage parameters;
operations time;
order status;
inventory and product traceability;
quality data;
personnel.
There are a number of different reasons for collecting data from the shop floor, with different people requiring different information in order to meet their functional objectives. For example, SFDC may focus on the...
