At Japanese manufacturer Roland DG, assembling thousands of parts into wide-format printers is as easy as coloring by numbers, writes The Wall Street Journal(June 2, 2014). That’s because Roland DG makes everything from billboard printers to machines that shape dental crowns using an advanced production system known as “D-shop.” Under this method, workers in single-person stalls assemble products from start to finish, guided by a 3-D graphic and using parts delivered automatically from a rotating rack. Every worker is capable of assembling any variation of the company’s 50 or so products.

In 1998, Roland became one of the first companies in Japan to abandon the assembly line in favor of one-person work stalls modeled after Japanese noodle stands. With orders coming in smaller and smaller lots, Roland decided it needed a manufacturing system in which a single worker could build any one of its diverse products. On a recent day, one employee was assembling from scratch an industrial printer that ultimately would be more than twice her size and weigh almost 900 pounds, while another was assembling a dental-crown milling machine.

A computer monitor displays step-by-step instructions along with 3-D drawings: “Turn Screw A in these eight locations” or “Secure Part B using Bracket C.” At the same time, the rotating parts rack turns to show which of the dozens of parts to use. Meanwhile, a digital screwdriver keeps track of how many times screws are turned and how tightly. Until the correct screws are turned the correct number of times, the instructions on the computer screen don’t advance to the next step. The system is so simple, say managers, that nearly anyone can assemble products anywhere. The computer even gives workers a pat on the back at the end of the day, with the message, “You must be tired, and we thank you.”

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.

The U.S. has added about 650,000 factory jobs since their numbers rebounded after the recession, putting manufacturing workers at 12.1 million and reversing a long decline in such jobs, reports The Wall Street Journal (May 30, 2014). But uneven growth has created regional disparities in the nation’s overall economic recovery.

Mobile, Alabama is among the winners. Shipbuilder Austral Ltd.’s facility here is busy seven days a week as workers piece together enormous aluminum sheets in a space the size of 13 football fields. Airbus and BAE Systems, too, are adding factory jobs here. Mobile created more manufacturing jobs than all but 15 U.S. counties in the past 4 years. U.S. factory-job gains—driven by a range of factors from cheaper domestic energy to the auto-industry recovery—have concentrated in pockets since the recession, particularly in the Southeast and Midwest.

Mobile’s success illustrates some common patterns: Often, companies have added jobs in states with “right-to-work” laws—which allow workers in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues—and where taxes are relatively low, in counties where governments provide large incentives and strong vocational education, and in places with access to ports or other transport hubs.

Austal chose Mobile because of location, waterfront property, cooperative local and state governments, low taxes and low union membership. Alabama’s government sponsored training for Austal workers and built it a $12 million training center.

Airbus Americas, hiring about 1,000 new employees for its first U.S. commercial assembly plant, didn’t consider any Northern states as finalists, as it was looking for a port to which it could ship airplane parts for assembly. Alabama’s right-to-work rules were a key attraction. Alabama gave Airbus tax credits and cash grants valued at $158 million to build in Mobile—including a $6 million training center. “Alabama had it all,” says the Airbus chairman. “I’m not sure the rust-belt states have the same attitude.”

This post provided courtesy of Jay and Barry’s OM Blog at www.heizerrenderom.wordpress.com. Professors Jay Heizer and Barry Render are authors of Operations Management , the world’s top selling textbook in its field, published by Pearson.