Saw the new Assembly line setup at the Packard Plant tour last weekend and I think they're doing it wrong.

They spent $2 million on automation but ignored the simple workflow bottlenecks that slow down the whole floor. Has anyone else walked through that site and noticed the same thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

viola_lopez301mo ago

It's frustrating when they throw money at the wrong problem. I feel for you, that tour was probably a letdown after all the hype.

max_brown1mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, didn't that tour actually get pretty good reviews though?

lily_torres311mo ago

Actually I have to disagree with you on this one. I walked through that Packard Plant tour two weeks ago and took a good 45 minutes studying their new line. The automation they put in actually fixed the worst bottleneck I saw the old setup had, which was that part transfer station near the south wall. Without that automated handler, workers were waiting 6-8 minutes per cycle just for parts to get moved manually. So the $2 million wasn't wasted, it just shifted the bottleneck somewhere else down the line. Your mileage may vary depending on when you visited, but I think they actually caught a big problem with that investment.