Accurate information obtained directly from the factory benefits all aspects of management and process control, including purchasing, production planning, factory supervision, sales and accounting.  This system was an early and very successful attempt at automating specific manufacturing business processes.

It comprised of a distributed network of up to 100 devices linked together to provide individual machine performance monitoring, whilst concentrating information for management purposes at a centralised IBM PC.  This provided accurate information directly from the factory to the office, allowing improved production planning, factory supervision, and inventory management as well as more timely accounting.

Each device had two independently operating microcomputers – one to do the monitoring and control functions, and the other to provide keyboard, screen and communications functions.  I wrote all production monitor code using Motorola 6800 Micro-Assembler.  The PC code was sub-contracted to developers using Pascal, but I wrote the communications and data management code using Microsoft 8080 Macro-Assembler.