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36 The PCB Magazine • August 2017 up a dedicated W.O.R.C. CELL for this product/ process family. Virtual W.O.R.C. Cell Creation A Virtual W.O.R.C. Cell was created for 2- and 4-layer standard FR-4 product by identify- ing a single machine in drill, image, lamination, and inspection for the W.O.R.C. Cell jobs. As a small shop, plating and soldermask were not in- cluded as there was only one machine for each of these processes. It was also determined that a standard 18" x 24" panel would be used for all W.O.R.C. Cell jobs, regardless of panel utiliza- tion guidelines. Any short-term material waste was eclipsed by the productivity and efficiency savings achieved and increased customer satis- faction from OTD performance. The next phase was to cross-train a select group of three employees to become process experts in all four departments, so that any of them could proficiently drill, image, laminate and inspect product; in other words, they be- came "Super Certified Operators." The core cell was comprised of two of these employees, with the third being backup coverage for the other two. The three selected operators were already proficient in one of the processes, and with full disclosure, becoming proficient in all four pro- cesses was a 6-month process (eight weeks in each of the three unfamiliar departments). The final phase was to create a new code in the ERP system for W.O.R.C. cell jobs, so that they would automatically get scheduled through the Virtual W.O.R.C. cell and not get mixed in with the standard jobs for the rest of the company's product. The Results The following baselines were established for the 12 months prior to implementing the man- ufacturing W.O.R.C. cell: • On-time delivery: 89% (all jobs) • Yield: 92% (all jobs) • Customer Satisfaction: 6.5/10.0 (annual survey composite) • YoY Growth: 3% And for the 12 months post W.O.R.C cell im- plementation, the results were all improved by: • On-time delivery: 98% (W.O.R.C. cell jobs) • On-time delivery: 94% (all jobs) • Yield: 96% (W.O.R.C. cell jobs) • Yield: 93% (all jobs) • Customer Satisfaction: 8.5/10.0 (annual survey composite) • YoY Growth: 9% Collateral Benefits It stands to reason that the jobs now pro- cessed through the W.O.R.C. cell show an im- CYCLE TIME REDUCTION THROUGH W.O.R.C. Figure 4: Company B routing analysis.