Assembly in Action: Lockheed Martin Automates Factory Paper
At its mile-long factory, the company is rolling out plantwide systems for computer-aided process planning and electronic work instructions, plus a manufacturing execution system to drive the electronic work instructions. They will serve 3,000 to 4,000 workers at more than 1,100 work areas in the cavernous U.S. Air Force Plant 4. Virtually everything workers now get on paper will be on computer screens.
Russell W. Ford, vice president of aerostructures manufacturing, is convinced electronic work instructions offer big payoffs. He is determined to make manufacturing a strategic competitive weapon. “Most other aerospace companies,” he points out, “look at manufacturing as a necessary evil.”