Boeing's Auburn facility in the late 1980s sharpened approximately 50,000 used drill bits weekly that had been dulled in the course of aircraft manufacturing. To facilitate the organization of this extreme number of drill bits that required resharpening, Boeing developed an automated drill sorting system in the 1980s. The drill sorter received drill bits of mixed sizes and types in piles, moved them onto a conveyor one at a time, identified the drill bits by size and/or type while moving, and then delivered each drill bit to a dedicated receiving area.