While I think it's a good idea to have engineering/purchasing located in the same building as manufacturing, there's got to be some growing pains getting new lineworkers up to speed if they are fresh off the street. Anyone know if the lineworkers were given an opportunity to relocate?

Yeah, don't disagree about the worker putting screws in. I was thinking more along the lines of jobs that require a some skill (i.e. constructing the wiring harness).

One thing they will initially lose is the knowledge of the undocumented quirks that workers gain from repetitively building hundreds of pins (i.e. shove this wire a little bit to the left so it doesn't get pinched later when we install this other widget). Good news is engineering will be in the same building to assist.

Been there done that when the company I work for moved our manufacturing from up north to FLA.

I have to admit my experience was with a board that I designed that required careful alignment (RF transmitter) that was farmed out south and to other countries. I imagine digital boards are a lot more friendly.

I'm sure they will sort it out, but I wouldn't want the the first pins out the door.

Interesting that Rockwell made boards for Gottlieb.

One thing that drives up cost on smaller production runs like pinball is rework. If it's not done right, then you have to factor in the repair time. Granted, with node boards and serial busses nowadays, wiring harnesses are not nearly are complex as in the past. Still, if someone has to 'touch it' for repair, then that's a cost that needs to be factored in. Plus it can affect the run rate.