New Computer System Enhances Textile Production

64 EE July/August 1988 NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM ENHANCES TEXTILE PRODUCTION by Anna Kochan, BEng An integrated computer system that can warn of production bottlenecks a year ahead and can be used by an operator with no experience of data processing has been on the market since late last year. Made by McGuffie Brunton North- erna), the first installation is at the nor- theast England textile manufacturing mill of the J.H. Walker Company, which collaborated in the design. Walker specializes in sliver pile fabric and jersey fleece. McGuffie started as a partnership in 1981, became a limited company two years later and developed an annual turnover of £1.8 million by 1986. Its first products were the Trader 25 and Jobber 25 software packages for the wholesale and distribution industries, and make- to-order, finish-to-order and jobbing manufacture, respectively. These are now installed in more than 250 businesses in the United Kingdom. The new package has evolved from these two earlier vers...