No longer do workers have to stop and pick through bins and racks of parts next to the assemblyline, a process that at times has seemed like sorting the screws in an Ikea chair.
From the public viewing area, touch-screen computers allowed visitors to explore each process at each assemblyline station through animation and live demonstrations.
But the crucial element may be that, in contracting manufacturing out to Chinese factories, GE lost control over, and input into, the foundation of the manufacturing process, the assemblyline.