Reengineering and the development of a decision support system for printed wiring board assembly

This paper describes a decision support system known as Integrated Scheduling, Inventory and Throughput Evaluation System (INSITES) designed to assist Texas Instruments in the day-to-day operations of printed wiring board (PWB) assembly at their facility in Austin, Texas. The project started off modestly with the goal of developing a series of algorithms for scheduling new orders and managing work-in-process. It quickly evolved into an organization-wide reengineering effort accompanied by the development of a full-scale management information system (MIS). The focus of this paper is on the procedures used to validate the MIS component of INSITES and on the redesign of the information flow and control structure of the PWB organization. The MIS experimental design was aimed at evaluating two measures-perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use-as a means of gauging user acceptance. Questionnaires were distributed to shop floor personnel most familiar with the system as well as upper management. The results, coupled with those of the scheduling experimental design, substantiated the benefits that INSITES was providing and led to full integration in early 1992. An expanded version of the system is now being used daily for scheduling, planning, and inventory management