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| The discussion of manufacturing characteristics presented in Chapter 1 is enhanced by a tour of a very typical manufacturing firm to put that discussion in context. Federal Signal provides an excellent model of a manufacturer with very typical characteristics. Federal Signal manufactures a variety products, from fire trucks in their vehicle group, to safety and warning signal systems in their safety products group, to tools for manufacturers. The manufacturing processes utilized to produce their innovative V-shaped Vision Light Bar, used on top of emergency vehicles, provides and an excellent example of a typical manufacturing operation. | |
| Like most manufacturers, Federal Signal depends on product quality attributes such as the product design and durability. | (VIDEOpt11) |
| Federal Signal fabricates some of their own parts, but also purchases many raw materials and components required to produce their finished products | (VIDEOpt5) |
| Both sources of components bring about challenges for quality management. As a part of bringing components into the system, for example, inspections are utilized to ensure that the components meet quality requirements. In contrast with services, manufactured products can be examine for compliance with quality expectations many times before customers get the products. | (VIDEOpt8) |
| Manufacturing operations differ from each other significantly, depending on the products, but most separate the process into levels, fabricating parts, combining parts and components into subassemblies, and combining those subassemblies into even bigger subassemblies. Finally, subassemblies are assembled into finished products. After raw materials and components are on-site, customer orders dictate schedules and capacity requirements. | (VIDEOpt4) |
| Much of the coordination within a manufacturing operation involves the movement of inventory through the system, to get it to the right operation at the right time. | (VIDEOpt6) |
| After fabrication and incoming part inspection, subassemblies are produced. | (VIDEOpt9) |
| These assembly steps are often the last operations immediately prior to the assembly of the finished product, known as final assembly. The subassemblies for the Vision Light Bar include the lights and reflectors, electronic wiring harnesses, and mounting brackets. The finished products are again inspected for quality control purposes, making it extremely unlikely that a defective product would ever make it to the customer. | (VIDEOpt10) |