An Analysis of Digital Work Instructions on an Assembly Floor

Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a global company that manufactures and provides services for the commercial, industrial, defense, and energy departments. The Curtiss-Wright facility that was the focus of this research is part of the Sensors and Controls Division and focuses on manufacturing and assembling aircraft components. Visual Factory, an electronic work instructions software, was implemented for a trial run for two products on the assembly floor. Data collected from several workstations and operators was analyzed to determine if there were impacts to product quality or changes in assembly completion times when using Visual Factory. After analyzing data from six operators and six workstations, it was found that operators could complete processes in less time than was previously believed. Timing data also helped to create standardized learning curves and improvement percentages for specific workstations and processes. This data allows management and supervisors to more adequately allocate time for training and extrapolate post-training completion times based on initial completion times. Part quality data was less abundant, but there were fewer major issues with part quality when using Visual Factory. Visual Factory also allowed for more in-depth collection of quality issues on specific units. It is recommended that Curtiss-Wright continues with implementation of Visual Factory across the entire assembly floor and all product lines.