A profile of a SAS software customer: The SAS System Adds Up to Quality at Northrop Grumman Inc.

PERRY, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 1995--Northrop Grumman Inc. has been building Boeing 747 airplane parts -- frame assemblies, doors, and subassemblies -- for more than 25 years.

Because building airplane parts requires precision and excellence, Northrop Grumman is dedicated to providing top quality. So in 1992 when The Boeing Corporation notified the airplane parts manufacturer that some of its airplane frames did not meet specifications, Northrop Grumman knew the problem had to be solved quickly.

As an initial step, a manual measuring system was put into place at Northrop Grumman's Perry, Georgia, manufacturing plant. Each airplane frame was measured by a mechanic, who then entered the data into the company's mainframe computer (located in California) for comparison and specification checking.

However, this method proved to be inefficient and time-consuming, often taking as long as two weeks for results to be returned to the plant. Northrop Grumman quality manufacturing engineers, statisticians, and manufacturing personnel met to find a better solution.

The group knew they wanted a system that would be portable, and one that would provide immediate feedback on the acceptability of the frame, real-time updates of the measurement database, and a direct gauge interface to take the measurements. The team also wanted to eliminate manual recording of statistical process control (SPC) data and automatically generate all required SPC analyses and charts.

The team decided the best option would combine a radio-frequency measuring system with a software system. After examining four radio-frequency devices and 24 software packages, Northrop Grumman chose to combine the SAS System and Telxon Corporation's radio-frequency expertise.

Working together, SAS Institute and Telxon produced a system that met all of Northrop Grumman's precise measurement needs, says Lorraine Schacht, a statistician in Northrop Grumman's Georgia plant. "All the other vendors could meet 80 to 90 percent of our requirements, but with SAS and Telxon working together, they met 100 percent of our design requirements."

Schacht says, "Telxon provided the radio-frequency data collection capability and the SAS System provided the level of communication and analysis required to implement the radio-frequency technology in a quality assurance application. Additionally, the SAS System provides off-line data management, analysis, and reporting capabilities so we did not have to buy two software packages-one for real-time data collection and analysis and another for off-line statistical analysis, reporting, and data management. The SAS System performs all of these jobs for us."

Key components of the new system are a SAS server running under OS/2, SAS/QC software, a radio-frequency base station controller, and 15 PTC (Portable Tele-Transaction Computer) 960s (radio-frequency hand-held devices used to record the measurements).

Now when mechanics measure a frame, they take the PTC960 to the frame. After entering their employee identification number, they measure the frame using a gauge connected to the PTC960. This information is transmitted by radio-frequency waves to the server, and the calculations are completed. Schacht says, "The program compares the measurement information with the engineering specifications and performs the statistical analysis."

The information is then sent back to the mechanic via the PTC960. Within approximately 30 seconds, the mechanic knows if the part can be shipped to Boeing or if it needs to be reworked. The radio-frequency system allows the mechanic to receive real-time analysis, and the measurement database is automatically updated. This new system gives the mechanic complete control over the frame until it leaves the plant.

Schacht says, "The system has done everything we needed it to do, and even more than we had originally intended. The SAS System was able to integrate with the radio-frequency technology that we wanted to use and perform every type of analysis that we require."

The flexibility of the SAS System set it apart from other SQC packages. Schacht says, "We can tailor the applications to fit our specific needs, and if our requirements change, the applications can be changed easily to accommodate any new requirements."

Implementing the new measuring system yielded some unexpected advantages such as a $54,000 annual savings in labor costs and a reduction in the costly rework that was previously required. Schacht says she is excited about the increased use of the system at Northrop Grumman and its potential use by other companies. She says, "Using the quality capabilities from SAS Institute and the radio-frequency capabilities from Telxon to provide mobile data analysis capabilities, other companies could apply this technology to anything they are building or doing. It doesn't have to be industry-specific to what we do here."

With 1994 revenues of $482 million, SAS Institute Inc. (Cary, N.C.) is the world's largest privately held independent software company. Since its incorporation in 1976, SAS Institute has consistently led the major software vendors in percentage of revenue reinvested in research and development (31 percent in 1994, or about $150 million.)

SAS Institute's five market initiatives form the core of its development and marketing efforts, reflecting strengths of the company and its flagship product, the SAS System -- an integrated suite of information delivery software for business decision making. These areas are Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Application Development, Analytic and Technical, and Business Solutions. Currently, about 29,000 businesses, government agencies and universities worldwide are using the SAS System.

For more information, contact the Software Sales Department at SAS Institute Inc., Cary, N.C. Telephone [phone].

CONTACT: SAS Institute Inc., Cary

Beverly Liles, 919/677-8000, ext. 7026

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