Caterpillar 2013 Annual Report Download - page 40

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CATERPILLAR INC. 2013 YEAR IN REVIEW
38
One of the most important disciplines in Lean manufacturing, “standard
work” provides a clear description of the safest, highest-quality and
most effi cient way to perform a given task. Yet it can be challenging to
make this voluminous information immediately accessible to employees
when and where they need it. A new shop fl oor mobility initiative, imple-
mented by Global Information Services, uses tablets to put standard
work resources literally at the fi ngertips of assemblers at our Decatur,
Ill., manufacturing facility.
Before shop fl oor mobility, assemblers at the facility either had to climb
off the work platform and walk back to a terminal to check standard work
or attempt to recall it from memory. With an average of 200 minutes of
standard work to complete on a truck, the time required to retrieve
information added up quickly.
The shop fl oor mobility initiative makes standard work accessible on the
machine that an assembler is building, through a tablet with a specially
designed magnetic case. It requires only a click to rotate a picture, zoom
into the picture for a more detailed view or access additional information.
Engineering changes are automatically updated and operation signoffs
happen the moment a task is complete – making real-time, controlled
data easily accessible throughout each work shift.
Each assembler, line by line on every assembly line in Decatur was
trained to use the tablets. Battery life extends for a full shift, and feed-
back from the assemblers indicates that the quality of the visual aids is
superior to legacy systems. Mobility is helping Caterpillar’s Decatur
facility reach our vision to be the world’s premier truck facility.
The Decatur deployment is just the beginning of shop fl oor mobility.
The concept has been replicated in Aurora and in Brazil. Cat® dealers are
also exploring the benefi ts of shop fl oor mobility for service technicians.
Bringing shop fl oor technology to match the modern factory is just one
way we are powering performance through technology.
Shop Floor Mobility – Powering
Caterpillar’s Performance through
Excellence and Innovation
CORPORATE SERVICES