“Transit Authority Goes A-Counting Spare Parts” by Richard Levine, The New York Times, November 29, 1986,
“Two years ago, Mr. Carrano bought a WANG VS 100 computer, hired some programmers and, working in a converted Howard Clothes warehouse on Chapel Street in downtown Brooklyn, set to bring this Dickensian system up to date. A year later, 80 computer operators were able — at least theoretically — not just to locate any part at any place in the system but to know instantly how many of those parts were used at that particular location during the last three years.
Then he and some assistants went out to the 36 satellite storerooms and 11 main storerooms, got into coveralls and climbed over the debris, discarding items no longer needed and counting those that were…the new system, Mr. Carrano said, will not only enable the authority to keep critical parts on hand but also to anticipate the demands of special projects, such as car-overhaul programs.”
