Nonin Medical Inc. (Plymouth, MN) manufactures precision devices for the medical, veterinary and consumer markets that measure physiological variables such as oxygen levels and pulse rates. Given this background, it should come as no surprise that the company "took the pulse" of its employees when it came time to purchase new workstations during the early stages of an ongoing transition to lean manufacturing.
As part of the process, operators had the opportunity to try out three different workstation brands, after which they filled out a questionnaire to detail the strengths and weaknesses of each option. Ultimately, employees and management chose the Arlink 8000 modular workstation, from Lista International Corp (Holliston, MA), because of the system's flexibility, both in terms of configuration adaptability and operator comfort.