http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/analpln/cs/geplspr.htm (PC Press Internet CD, 03/1996)
| Updated: March 14,1996 |  Go To TechNet Home Page |
Ron Giles, Principal Engineer, IMO, PCO, GE Plastics Structured Products Division
Industry: Manufacturing
Business Solution: Business-critical information management system to reduce product cycle time
Architecture: Work group LAN with Digital Alpha AXP server and 150 Intel-based PC clients
Products Used: Windows NT Server, Windows NT Workstation, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Accessr, Powersoft ,PowerBuilderTM, Sapiens Ideal,
Benefits: Shorter product cycle time; reduced inventory costs; increased customer satisfaction; lower costs
The GE Plastics Structured Products Division significantly cut critical product cycle time from order entry to customer delivery by implementing its Windows NT-based Auto Vouchering system. By handling data more efficiently, it is able to offer better products more quickly, reduce manufacturing downtime, and lower the total cost to customers.
The Structured Products Division, located in Mount Vernon, Indiana, uses resins manufactured by GE Plastics to make plastic sheets and films used in industries such as graphics, packaging, and construction. Its business is divided into three main areas: Film, Sheet, and Finishing. Film and Sheet are particularly dependent on timely and accurate data on their manufacturing processes. Without this information, work backs up quickly, which delays the turnaround to the customer. Until implementing the Auto Vouchering system, the Structured Products Division was dependent on a mainframe system that relied on manual input and forced people to hand-carry data. Often managers didn't know the status of production lines until it was too late, resulting in a loss of time and money. For the shop floor applications, Structured Products' goal is to reduce product cycle time from order entry to customer delivery. To accomplish this, both the production team and the management team need accurate information in real time. The Structured Products Division needed a new system.
Why Windows NT?
To address the Structured Products Division's needs, Ron Giles, Principal Engineer for the division, configured a work group LAN with a Digital Alpha AXPTM server running Windows NT Server and Microsoftr SQL ServerTM. The system performs number crunching, file sharing, and storage for approximately 150 Intelr-based PC clients running Windows NT Workstation.
In selecting the foundation for a new system, the Structured Products Division considered a number of factors. According to Giles, "The key things the system needed were user-friendly applications, the capability to run multiple applications, and preemptive multitasking. The system must be as easy as possible for the end user-some of the users had never touched a computer, so we needed a user-friendly system. Also, in order to keep projects moving forward, we needed to keep costs down." Giles continues, "One reason why we selected Windows NT Server is the fact that it provides a foundation both for today and for the future. As a manufacturing company, we moved to Windows NT for the reliability. Software applications will crash. You cannot allow your operating system to be taken down when that occurs. Windows NT Server and Windows NT Workstation allow you to run on any platform and give you security that the operating system will stay up and running."
Giles continues, "Windows NT included a variety of software features that are normally options with other operating systems, such as RAID 5 capability, multiple networking protocols, multithreading, multitasking, file security, and single-point log-ins for users for the entire domain. Also, it allowed us to purchase the performance that we need in a specific situation. Whether we need a low-end or high-end platform, we can go with what fits that situation best and still have all the Windows NT capabilities. All of the applications we develop will run on multiple platforms when running Windows NT. We never have to rewrite code for each platform. Also we're able to have a system that's very easy to learn and use. With Microsoft SQL Server, database development and database management are very easy. We've also found it extremely fast."
Streamlining Access to Data
The Structured Products Division has achieved its goal to cut product cycle time. Its new system reduces the delivery time of critical information by three to five days. Giles reports, "This definitely is a big cost benefit to us. A year ago, a manager would not know that he had, for example, a yield problem on a line for three days after the fact, when it's too late to do anything about it. Now, he knows real time if he has a problem. We've realized additional benefits. Goods spend less time in storage, which cuts warehouse expense. The individuals within our business have become much more productive. They have been able to provide some of their time and resources to other things, which improves productivity in other areas." George Lord, Film Operations Manager, discusses other benefits, "The system lets us become more efficient. It gives us the tools to better understand how our business runs. We are able to start establishing some inter-elationships between the physical properties of our materials and how they are processed through our equipment. A lot of data is captured in process control. Previously, it just sat there, but now I can get the specific data I need. And I'm no longer walking around with disks sharing them with individuals."
Tim Hess, Manager of Customer Service for Structured Products, also credits the new system with making it easier to share data. "It knocked down boundaries between areas within the plant and opened up the way we can share information among ourselves, which is the key to improved productivity." Another major benefit Hess found is that it is now easier for customers to do business with Structured Products. "We're able to respond to the customer a lot quicker, and that's really the bottom line."
Replicating Success
Based on the Structured Products Division's successful experience with Windows NT, both GE Plastics corporate and Structured Products have entrusted an increasing portion of their systems' future to the Windows NT family of products.
Structured Products has implemented several other Windows NT-based solutions. In addition to the Auto Vouchering system, another mission-critical system is a manufacturing process control application that monitors and controls manufacturing equipment for the Finishing Group. Giles discusses the critical nature of the application, "Most of our processes making high-quality products for our customers take three to four hours to restart if they crash. That is a cost to our business. If the process stops they cannot make anything. We cannot afford to lose the process due to a control system crashing. We just developed our first process-control interface using In-Touch's WonderWare, Windows NT Workstation, and GE Fanuc's PLC 90-70. We started that system in late July. The system running on Windows NT has proven to be very reliable, and the capability of running desktop applications along with process-control applications gives an operator additional capabilities, such as statistical analysis, reporting, and word processing."
Microsoft and Microsoft Access are registered trademarks and Windows and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Alpha AXP is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. PowerBuilder is a trademark of Powersoft Corporation.
 |
Click Here to Search TechNet Web Contents | TechNet CD Overview | |
Microsoft TechNet Credit Card Order Form At this time we can only support electronic orders in the US and Canada. International ordering information. |
| Go To TechNet Home Page |
©1996 Microsoft Corporation |  Go To Microsoft Home Page |