An assembly line , often called progressive assembly , is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechanically moving parts to workstations and transferring the unfinished product from one workstation to another, a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than having workers carry parts to a stationary product.
74-478: [REDACTED] The Wikibook Embedded Systems has a page on the topic of: Super Loop Architecture Superloop may refer to: SuperLoop , a bus system, San Diego, California, US Superloop (company) , an Australian telecommunications company Superloop Adelaide 500 , sponsored motor racing event London Superloop , a bus route network, UK Super Loops , later Fire Ball, an amusement ride SuperLOOP,
148-511: A computer processor , computer memory , and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within, it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use. In 2009 , it
222-571: A production line . Ships moved down a canal and were fitted by the various shops they passed. At the peak of its efficiency in the early 16th century, the Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who could apparently produce nearly one ship each day and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly built galley with standardized parts on an assembly-line basis. Although the Arsenal lasted until the early Industrial Revolution, production line methods did not become common even then. The Industrial Revolution led to
296-523: A bottleneck. Only japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colours available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. The assembly line technique was an integral part of the diffusion of the automobile into American society. Decreased costs of production allowed the cost of the Model T to fall within the budget of the American middle class. In 1908,
370-482: A chance for people to externalize facets of their personalities. Marxists argue that performing repetitive, specialized tasks causes a feeling of disconnection between what a worker does all day, who they really are, and what they would ideally be able to contribute to society. Furthermore, Marx views these specialised jobs as insecure, since the worker is expendable as soon as costs rise and technology can replace more expensive human labour. Since workers have to stand in
444-776: A complete system - consisting of multiple processors, multipliers, caches, even different types of memory and commonly various peripherals like interfaces for wired or wireless communication on a single chip. Often graphics processing units (GPU) and DSPs are included such chips. SoCs can be implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) which typically can be reconfigured. ASIC implementations are common for very-high-volume embedded systems like mobile phones and smartphones . ASIC or FPGA implementations may be used for not-so-high-volume embedded systems with special needs in kind of signal processing performance, interfaces and reliability, like in avionics. Embedded systems talk with
518-570: A gradual, logical development of industrial engineering : What was worked out at Ford was the practice of moving the work from one worker to another until it became a complete unit, then arranging the flow of these units at the right time and the right place to a moving final assembly line from which came a finished product. Regardless of earlier uses of some of these principles, the direct line of succession of mass production and its intensification into automation stems directly from what we worked out at Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1913. Henry Ford
592-555: A myriad of things in the physical world and act on this information through monitoring and control systems. These motes are completely self-contained and will typically run off a battery source for years before the batteries need to be changed or charged. Embedded systems are designed to perform a specific task, in contrast with general-purpose computers designed for multiple tasks. Some have real-time performance constraints that must be met, for reasons such as safety and usability; others may have low or no performance requirements, allowing
666-462: A proliferation of manufacturing and invention. Many industries, notably textiles , firearms , clocks and watches , horse-drawn vehicles , railway locomotives , sewing machines , and bicycles , saw expeditious improvement in materials handling, machining, and assembly during the 19th century, although modern concepts such as industrial engineering and logistics had not yet been named. The automatic flour mill built by Oliver Evans in 1785
740-455: A sequence of workstations. Each task requires a given task duration for completion. The assignment of tasks to stations is typically limited by two constraints: (1) a precedence graph which indicates what other tasks need to be completed before a particular task can be initiated (e.g. not putting in a screw before drilling the hole) and (2) a cycle time which restricts the sum of task processing times which can be completed at each workstation before
814-458: A simple menu system . More sophisticated devices that use a graphical screen with touch sensing or screen-edge soft keys provide flexibility while minimizing space used: the meaning of the buttons can change with the screen, and selection involves the natural behavior of pointing at what is desired. Some systems provide user interface remotely with the help of a serial (e.g. RS-232 ) or network (e.g. Ethernet ) connection. This approach extends
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#1733270225001888-497: A single microcontroller chip, to very high with multiple units, peripherals and networks, which may reside in equipment racks or across large geographical areas connected via long-distance communications lines. The origins of the microprocessor and the microcontroller can be traced back to the MOS integrated circuit , which is an integrated circuit chip fabricated from MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors ) and
962-472: A single role. Examples of devices that may adopt this approach are automated teller machines (ATM) and arcade machines , which contain code specific to the application. However, most ready-made embedded systems boards are not PC-centered and do not use the ISA or PCI busses. When a system-on-a-chip processor is involved, there may be little benefit to having a standardized bus connecting discrete components, and
1036-814: A software-based tracing method used in RTOS environments is the use of empty macros which are invoked by the operating system at strategic places in the code, and can be implemented to serve as hooks . Embedded systems often reside in machines that are expected to run continuously for years without error, and in some cases recover by themselves if an error occurs. Therefore, the software is usually developed and tested more carefully than that for personal computers, and unreliable mechanical moving parts such as disk drives, switches or buttons are avoided. Specific reliability issues may include: A variety of techniques are used, sometimes in combination, to recover from errors—both software bugs such as memory leaks , and also soft errors in
1110-624: A specific function as a subsystem of the car itself. The program instructions written for embedded systems are referred to as firmware , and are stored in read-only memory or flash memory chips. They run with limited computer hardware resources: little memory, small or non-existent keyboard or screen. Embedded systems range from no user interface at all, in systems dedicated to one task, to complex graphical user interfaces that resemble modern computer desktop operating systems. Simple embedded devices use buttons , light-emitting diodes (LED), graphic or character liquid-crystal displays (LCD) with
1184-455: A standard PC, although still quite large compared to most simple (8/16-bit) embedded systems. They may use DOS , FreeBSD , Linux , NetBSD , OpenHarmony or an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) such as MicroC/OS-II , QNX or VxWorks . In certain applications, where small size or power efficiency are not primary concerns, the components used may be compatible with those used in general-purpose x86 personal computers. Boards such as
1258-427: A standard for programmable microcontrollers, including almost any computer-based controllers, such as single-board computers , numerical, and event-based controllers. There are several different types of software architecture in common use. In this design, the software simply has a loop which monitors the input devices. The loop calls subroutines , each of which manages a part of the hardware or software. Hence it
1332-431: A team consisting primarily of Peter E. Martin , the factory superintendent; Charles E. Sorensen , Martin's assistant; Clarence W. Avery ; C. Harold Wills , draftsman and toolmaker; Charles Ebender ; and József Galamb . Some of the groundwork for such development had recently been laid by the intelligent layout of machine tool placement that Walter Flanders had been doing at Ford up to 1908. The moving assembly line
1406-406: A time. In traditional production, only one car would be assembled at a time. If engine installation takes 20 minutes, hood installation takes five minutes, and wheels installation takes 10 minutes, then a car can be produced every 35 minutes. In an assembly line, car assembly is split between several stations, all working simultaneously. When a station is finished with a car, it passes it on to
1480-465: A waterslide similar to the AquaLoop A simple bare metal firmware architecture with no operating system, where a single infinite loop continuously executes all tasks in sequence. Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Superloop . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
1554-419: Is a selection of operating systems, usually including Linux and some real-time choices. These modules can be manufactured in high volume, by organizations familiar with their specialized testing issues, and combined with much lower volume custom mainboards with application-specific external peripherals. Prominent examples of this approach include Arduino and Raspberry Pi . A system on a chip (SoC) contains
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#17332702250011628-482: Is believed to be one of the first industrial assembly lines (or disassembly lines) to be utilized in the United States starting in 1867. Workers would stand at fixed stations and a pulley system would bring the meat to each worker and they would complete one task. Henry Ford and others have written about the influence of this slaughterhouse practice on the later developments at Ford Motor Company. According to Domm,
1702-417: Is called a simple control loop or programmed input-output. Some embedded systems are predominantly controlled by interrupts . This means that tasks performed by the system are triggered by different kinds of events; an interrupt could be generated, for example, by a timer at a predefined interval, or by a serial port controller receiving data. This architecture is used if event handlers need low latency, and
1776-428: Is generally regarded as the father of mass production. He was not. He was the sponsor of it. As a result of these developments in method, Ford's cars came off the line in three-minute intervals or six feet per minute. This was much faster than previous methods, increasing production by eight to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower. It was so successful, paint became
1850-623: Is presented by a host PC tool, based on a recording of the system behavior. The trace recording can be performed in software, by the RTOS, or by special tracing hardware. RTOS tracing allows developers to understand timing and performance issues of the software system and gives a good understanding of the high-level system behaviors. Trace recording in embedded systems can be achieved using hardware or software solutions. Software-based trace recording does not require specialized debugging hardware and can be used to record traces in deployed devices, but it can have an impact on CPU and RAM usage. One example of
1924-422: Is purchased or provided by a person other than the manufacturer of the electronics. In these systems, an open programming environment such as Linux , NetBSD , FreeBSD , OSGi or Embedded Java is required so that the third-party software provider can sell to a large market. Embedded debugging may be performed at different levels, depending on the facilities available. Considerations include: does it slow down
1998-620: Is usually more complex than a traditional solution, most of the complexity is contained within the microcontroller itself. Very few additional components may be needed and most of the design effort is in the software. Software prototype and test can be quicker compared with the design and construction of a new circuit not using an embedded processor. Embedded systems are commonly found in consumer, industrial, automotive , home appliances , medical, telecommunication, commercial, aerospace and military applications. Telecommunications systems employ numerous embedded systems from telephone switches for
2072-485: The Intel 4004 (released in 1971), was designed for calculators and other small systems but still required external memory and support chips. By the early 1980s, memory, input and output system components had been integrated into the same chip as the processor forming a microcontroller. Microcontrollers find applications where a general-purpose computer would be too costly. As the cost of microprocessors and microcontrollers fell,
2146-801: The automotive industry , its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany and Ford Japan 1925; in 1919, Vulcan (Southport, Lancashire) was the first native European manufacturer to adopt it. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke by not being able to compete; by 1930, 250 companies which did not had disappeared. The massive demand for military hardware in World War II prompted assembly-line techniques in shipbuilding and aircraft production. Thousands of Liberty ships were built making extensive use of prefabrication, enabling ship assembly to be completed in weeks or even days. After having produced fewer than 3,000 planes for
2220-421: The social alienation and boredom that many workers feel because of the repetition of doing the same specialized task all day long. Karl Marx expressed in his theory of alienation the belief that, in order to achieve job satisfaction, workers need to see themselves in the objects they have created, that products should be "mirrors in which workers see their reflected essential nature". Marx viewed labour as
2294-449: The Model T price. These goals appear altruistic; however, it has been argued that they were implemented by Ford in order to reduce high employee turnover: when the assembly line was introduced in 1913, it was discovered that "every time the company wanted to add 100 men to its factory personnel, it was necessary to hire 963" in order to counteract the natural distaste the assembly line seems to have inspired. Sociological work has explored
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2368-551: The United States Military in 1939, American aircraft manufacturers built over 300,000 planes in World War II. Vultee pioneered the use of the powered assembly line for aircraft manufacturing. Other companies quickly followed. As William S. Knudsen (having worked at Ford, GM and the National Defense Advisory Commission) observed, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production,
2442-512: The VIA EPIA range help to bridge the gap by being PC-compatible but highly integrated, physically smaller or have other attributes making them attractive to embedded engineers. The advantage of this approach is that low-cost commodity components may be used along with the same software development tools used for general software development. Systems built in this way are still regarded as embedded since they are integrated into larger devices and fulfill
2516-501: The building it would stop at various stages where new parts would be added. From the upper level, where other parts were made, the lighter parts would be lowered over a balcony and then fixed onto the machine on the ground level. When the machine reached the end of the shop, it would be completed. During the early 19th century, the development of machine tools such as the screw-cutting lathe , metal planer , and milling machine , and of toolpath control via jigs and fixtures , provided
2590-444: The capabilities of the embedded system, avoids the cost of a display, simplifies the board support package (BSP) and allows designers to build a rich user interface on the PC. A good example of this is the combination of an embedded HTTP server running on an embedded device (such as an IP camera or a network router ). The user interface is displayed in a web browser on a PC connected to
2664-683: The device. Examples of properties of typical embedded computers when compared with general-purpose counterparts, are low power consumption, small size, rugged operating ranges, and low per-unit cost. This comes at the expense of limited processing resources. Numerous microcontrollers have been developed for embedded systems use. General-purpose microprocessors are also used in embedded systems, but generally, require more support circuitry than microcontrollers. PC/104 and PC/104+ are examples of standards for ready-made computer boards intended for small, low-volume embedded and ruggedized systems. These are mostly x86-based and often physically small compared to
2738-400: The engine has been installed on the second car, the second car moves to the hood assembly. At the same time, the third car moves to the engine assembly. When the third car's engine has been mounted, it then can be moved to the hood station; meanwhile, subsequent cars (if any) can be moved to the engine installation station. Assuming no loss of time when moving a car from one station to another,
2812-409: The environment for both hardware and software tools may be very different. One common design style uses a small system module, perhaps the size of a business card, holding high density BGA chips such as an ARM -based system-on-a-chip processor and peripherals, external flash memory for storage, and DRAM for runtime memory. The module vendor will usually provide boot software and make sure there
2886-623: The event handlers are short and simple. These systems run a simple task in a main loop also, but this task is not very sensitive to unexpected delays. Sometimes the interrupt handler will add longer tasks to a queue structure. Later, after the interrupt handler has finished, these tasks are executed by the main loop. This method brings the system close to a multitasking kernel with discrete processes. Assembly lines Assembly lines are common methods of assembling complex items such as automobiles and other transportation equipment, household appliances and electronic goods . Workers in charge of
2960-715: The first microprocessors, as engineers began recognizing that a complete computer processor system could be contained on several MOS LSI chips. The first multi-chip microprocessors, the Four-Phase Systems AL1 in 1969 and the Garrett AiResearch MP944 in 1970, were developed with multiple MOS LSI chips. The first single-chip microprocessor was the Intel 4004 , released in 1971. It was developed by Federico Faggin , using his silicon-gate MOS technology, along with Intel engineers Marcian Hoff and Stan Mazor , and Busicom engineer Masatoshi Shima . One of
3034-624: The first recognizably modern embedded systems was the Apollo Guidance Computer , developed ca. 1965 by Charles Stark Draper at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory . At the project's inception, the Apollo guidance computer was considered the riskiest item in the Apollo project as it employed the then newly developed monolithic integrated circuits to reduce the computer's size and weight. An early mass-produced embedded system
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3108-407: The following areas: Unless restricted to external debugging, the programmer can typically load and run software through the tools, view the code running in the processor, and start or stop its operation. The view of the code may be as high-level programming language , assembly code or mixture of both. Real-time operating systems often support tracing of operating system events. A graphical view
3182-473: The hardware: For high-volume systems such as mobile phones , minimizing cost is usually the primary design consideration. Engineers typically select hardware that is just good enough to implement the necessary functions. For low-volume or prototype embedded systems, general-purpose computers may be adapted by limiting the programs or by replacing the operating system with an RTOS. In 1978 National Electrical Manufacturers Association released ICS 3-1978,
3256-544: The help of Henry Maudslay and others, designed 22 types of machine tools to make the parts for the rigging blocks used by the Royal Navy . This factory was so successful that it remained in use until the 1960s, with the workshop still visible at HM Dockyard in Portsmouth , and still containing some of the original machinery. One of the earliest examples of an almost modern factory layout, designed for easy material handling,
3330-471: The idea forth to Henry Ford , but Pa Klann's slaughterhouse revelation is well documented in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum and elsewhere, making him an important contributor to the modern automated assembly line concept. Ford was appreciative, having visited the highly automated 40-acre Sears mail order handling facility around 1906. At Ford, the process was an evolution by trial and error of
3404-608: The implementation of mass production of an automobile via an assembly line may be credited to Ransom Olds , who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash . Olds patented the assembly line concept, which he put to work in his Olds Motor Vehicle Company factory in 1901. At Ford Motor Company , the assembly line was introduced by William "Pa" Klann upon his return from visiting Swift & Company's slaughterhouse in Chicago and viewing what
3478-553: The individual parts. They would then assemble them into the final product, making cut-and-try changes in the parts until they fit and could work together ( craft production ). Division of labor was practiced by Ancient Greeks , Chinese and other ancient civilizations. In Ancient Greece it was discussed by Plato and Xenophon . Adam Smith discussed the division of labour in the manufacture of pins at length in his book The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776). The Venetian Arsenal , dating to about 1104, operated similar to
3552-416: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Superloop&oldid=1230470075 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Embedded Systems An embedded system is a specialized computer system —a combination of
3626-407: The like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible." In his 1922 autobiography, Henry Ford mentions several benefits of the assembly line including: The gains in productivity allowed Ford to increase worker pay from $ 1.50 per day to $ 5.00 per day once employees reached three years of service on the assembly line. Ford continued on to reduce the hourly work week while continuously lowering
3700-522: The longest stage on the assembly line determines the throughput (20 minutes for the engine installation) so a car can be produced every 20 minutes, once the first car taking 35 minutes has been produced. Before the Industrial Revolution , most manufactured products were made individually by hand. A single craftsman or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product. They would use their skills and tools such as files and knives to create
3774-454: The main application, how close is the debugged system or application to the actual system or application, how expressive are the triggers that can be set for debugging (e.g., inspecting the memory when a particular program counter value is reached), and what can be inspected in the debugging process (such as, only memory, or memory and registers, etc.). From simplest to most sophisticated debugging techniques and systems are roughly grouped into
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#17332702250013848-2299: The network to cell phones at the end user . Computer networking uses dedicated routers and network bridges to route data. Consumer electronics include MP3 players , television sets , mobile phones , video game consoles , digital cameras , GPS receivers, and printers . Household appliances, such as microwave ovens , washing machines and dishwashers , include embedded systems to provide flexibility, efficiency and features. Advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems use networked thermostats to more accurately and efficiently control temperature that can change by time of day and season . Home automation uses wired- and wireless-networking that can be used to control lights, climate, security, audio/visual, surveillance, etc., all of which use embedded devices for sensing and controlling. Transportation systems from flight to automobiles increasingly use embedded systems. New airplanes contain advanced avionics such as inertial guidance systems and GPS receivers that also have considerable safety requirements. Spacecraft rely on astrionics systems for trajectory correction. Various electric motors — brushless DC motors , induction motors and DC motors — use electronic motor controllers . Automobiles , electric vehicles , and hybrid vehicles increasingly use embedded systems to maximize efficiency and reduce pollution. Other automotive safety systems using embedded systems include anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC/ESP), traction control (TCS) and automatic four-wheel drive . Medical equipment uses embedded systems for monitoring , and various medical imaging ( positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for non-invasive internal inspections. Embedded systems within medical equipment are often powered by industrial computers. Embedded systems are used for safety-critical systems in aerospace and defense industries. Unless connected to wired or wireless networks via on-chip 3G cellular or other methods for IoT monitoring and control purposes, these systems can be isolated from hacking and thus be more secure. For fire safety,
3922-424: The next. By having three stations, three cars can be operated on at the same time, each at a different stage of assembly. After finishing its work on the first car, the engine installation crew can begin working on the second car. While the engine installation crew works on the second car, the first car can be moved to the hood station and fitted with a hood, then to the wheels station and be fitted with wheels. After
3996-539: The outside world via peripherals , such as: As with other software, embedded system designers use compilers , assemblers , and debuggers to develop embedded system software. However, they may also use more specific tools: Software tools can come from several sources: As the complexity of embedded systems grows, higher-level tools and operating systems are migrating into machinery where it makes sense. For example, cellphones , personal digital assistants and other consumer computers often need significant software that
4070-404: The part to the next workman for his own. (3) Use sliding assembling lines by which the parts to be assembled are delivered at convenient distances. Designing assembly lines is a well-established mathematical challenge, referred to as an assembly line balancing problem. In the simple assembly line balancing problem the aim is to assign a set of tasks that need to be performed on the workpiece to
4144-418: The prerequisites for the modern assembly line by making interchangeable parts a practical reality. Steam-powered conveyor lifts began being used for loading and unloading ships some time in the last quarter of the 19th century. Hounshell (1984) shows a c. 1885 sketch of an electric-powered conveyor moving cans through a filling line in a canning factory. The meatpacking industry of Chicago
4218-450: The prevalence of embedded systems increased. A comparatively low-cost microcontroller may be programmed to fulfill the same role as a large number of separate components. With microcontrollers, it became feasible to replace, even in consumer products, expensive knob-based analog components such as potentiometers and variable capacitors with up/down buttons or knobs read out by a microprocessor. Although in this context an embedded system
4292-422: The price of a Model T was around $ 825, and by 1912 it had decreased to around $ 575. This price reduction is comparable to a reduction from $ 15,000 to $ 10,000 in dollar terms from the year 2000. In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay. Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced
4366-1244: The processor(s) used may be types ranging from general purpose to those specialized in a certain class of computations, or even custom designed for the application at hand. A common standard class of dedicated processors is the digital signal processor (DSP). Since the embedded system is dedicated to specific tasks, design engineers can optimize it to reduce the size and cost of the product and increase its reliability and performance. Some embedded systems are mass-produced, benefiting from economies of scale . Embedded systems range in size from portable personal devices such as digital watches and MP3 players to bigger machines like home appliances , industrial assembly lines , robots , transport vehicles, traffic light controllers , and medical imaging systems. Often they constitute subsystems of other machines like avionics in aircraft and astrionics in spacecraft . Large installations like factories , pipelines , and electrical grids rely on multiple embedded systems networked together. Generalized through software customization, embedded systems such as programmable logic controllers frequently comprise their functional units. Embedded systems range from those low in complexity, with
4440-421: The rate of injury . The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called " Fordism ", and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take-off of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods. In
4514-533: The system hardware to be simplified to reduce costs. Embedded systems are not always standalone devices. Many embedded systems are a small part within a larger device that serves a more general purpose. For example, the Gibson Robot Guitar features an embedded system for tuning the strings, but the overall purpose of the Robot Guitar is to play music. Similarly, an embedded system in an automobile provides
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#17332702250014588-540: The systems can be designed to have a greater ability to handle higher temperatures and continue to operate. In dealing with security, the embedded systems can be self-sufficient and be able to deal with cut electrical and communication systems. Miniature wireless devices called motes are networked wireless sensors. Wireless sensor networking makes use of miniaturization made possible by advanced integrated circuit (IC) design to couple full wireless subsystems to sophisticated sensors, enabling people and companies to measure
4662-405: The tools and the men in the sequence of the operation so that each component part shall travel the least possible distance while in the process of finishing. (2) Use work slides or some other form of the carrier so that when a workman completes his operation, he drops the part always in the same place—which place must always be the most convenient place to his hand—and if possible have gravity carry
4736-446: The work-piece is moved to the next station by the conveyor belt. Major planning problems for operating assembly lines include supply chain integration , inventory control and production scheduling . Consider the assembly of a car : assume that certain steps in the assembly line are to install the engine, install the hood, and install the wheels (in that order, with arbitrary interstitial steps); only one of these steps can be done at
4810-608: The works of assembly line are called assemblers . Assembly lines are designed for the sequential organization of workers, tools or machines, and parts. The motion of workers is minimized to the extent possible. All parts or assemblies are handled either by conveyors or motorized vehicles such as forklifts , or gravity , with no manual trucking. Heavy lifting is done by machines such as overhead cranes or forklifts. Each worker typically performs one simple operation unless job rotation strategies are applied. According to Henry Ford : The principles of assembly are these: (1) Place
4884-431: The world. In 1922, Ford (through his ghostwriter Crowther) said of his 1913 assembly line: I believe that this was the first moving line ever installed. The idea came in a general way from the overhead trolley that the Chicago packers use in dressing beef. Charles E. Sorensen , in his 1956 memoir My Forty Years with Ford , presented a different version of development that was not so much about individual "inventors" as
4958-581: Was called the beginning of modern bulk material handling by Roe (1916). Evans's mill used a leather belt bucket elevator, screw conveyors , canvas belt conveyors, and other mechanical devices to completely automate the process of making flour. The innovation spread to other mills and breweries. Probably the earliest industrial example of a linear and continuous assembly process is the Portsmouth Block Mills , built between 1801 and 1803. Marc Isambard Brunel (father of Isambard Kingdom Brunel ), with
5032-533: Was developed for the Ford Model T and began operation on October 7, 1913, at the Highland Park Ford Plant , and continued to evolve after that, using time and motion study . The assembly line, driven by conveyor belts , reduced production time for a Model T to just 93 minutes by dividing the process into 45 steps. Producing cars quicker than paint of the day could dry, it had an immense influence on
5106-404: Was developed in the early 1960s. By 1964, MOS chips had reached higher transistor density and lower manufacturing costs than bipolar chips. MOS chips further increased in complexity at a rate predicted by Moore's law , leading to large-scale integration (LSI) with hundreds of transistors on a single MOS chip by the late 1960s. The application of MOS LSI chips to computing was the basis for
5180-411: Was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems. Modern embedded systems are often based on microcontrollers (i.e. microprocessors with integrated memory and peripheral interfaces), but ordinary microprocessors (using external chips for memory and peripheral interface circuits) are also common, especially in more complex systems. In either case,
5254-498: Was initiated at the factory of Richard Garrett & Sons , Leiston Works in Leiston in the English county of Suffolk for the manufacture of portable steam engines . The assembly line area was called ' The Long Shop ' on account of its length and was fully operational by early 1853. The boiler was brought up from the foundry and put at the start of the line, and as it progressed through
5328-407: Was referred to as the "disassembly line", where carcasses were butchered as they moved along a conveyor. The efficiency of one person removing the same piece over and over without moving to another station caught his attention. He reported the idea to Peter E. Martin , soon to be head of Ford production, who was doubtful at the time but encouraged him to proceed. Others at Ford have claimed to have put
5402-648: Was the Autonetics D-17 guidance computer for the Minuteman missile , released in 1961. When the Minuteman II went into production in 1966, the D-17 was replaced with a new computer that represented the first high-volume use of integrated circuits. Since these early applications in the 1960s, embedded systems have come down in price and there has been a dramatic rise in processing power and functionality. An early microprocessor,
5476-616: Was the Bridgewater Foundry . The factory grounds were bordered by the Bridgewater Canal and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . The buildings were arranged in a line with a railway for carrying the work going through the buildings. Cranes were used for lifting the heavy work, which sometimes weighed in the tens of tons. The work passed sequentially through to erection of framework and final assembly. The first flow assembly line
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