Productivity in small scale assembly plants

Low volume assembly plants have traditionally suffered from relatively low productivity, finding it difficult to justify automation and requiring more skill from operators to achieve comparative first time capability levels. This paper describes how with the application of modern management philosophies and techniques, and utilising the ingenuity from all levels of the company startling results can be achieved. It also describes what automation can be justified and how we can make gains in waste reduction by questioning everything we do, then doing the job right first time (a).