Page 19 - Remembering ISTEL

Remembering ISTEL

Thus all the changes in Company policy and Government legislation have had
to be implemented not once but 36 times to meet local payroll system variations.

In the midst of this activity we have been planning for the future Many of our
computer systems have been around for 10 or 15 years and like everything else,
are showing the strains of age. We have reached the stage where computer
systems have come to the end of their natural life. A programme of work has

been set and is now being carried out to convert all the variety of systems
across the Company to a new generation common system which will allow us

to meet the requirements for change which look like being just as demanding
in the future as they have been in the past.

Swindon press line monitoring

The line monitoring

system at Swindon is a
monitoring,
communication and

information system for
the Press Shops based
on the use of dedicated

minicomputers The
need for the system

arose because the
Press Shops are very
large with a very high
level of activity on the

hundreds of presses. The capital investment in the presses is huge and keeping
the Plant operating at an acceptable level of efficiency is made immensely

difficult because of the number of services needed (fitters, electricians,
automation experts, etc) and the sheer volume and variety of activities To help
improve efficiency the system was developed to link all the presses directly to
a computer system and give foremen, planners and production management

terminals to enable them to see clearly what is going on (and going wrong!) and
to enable them to communicate their requirements and priorities to the

various parts of the Plant.

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