![Lean Briefs Logo](images/logos/briefs1.gif)
The
Newsletter of Lean Manufacturing & Factory Science
September
11,
2003
www.strategosinc.com
Cellular
Manufacturing-- Even In A Job Shop!
How
Group Technology Tames
The Variety Beast
It
often seems that workcells only apply to simple product mixes. But
companies with hundreds or thousands of products can
still use Cellular Manufacturing. In
fact, the job-shop is where cellular
manufacturing originated.
High-variety,
low-volume situations require sophisticated
analysis and the resulting workcells
are quite different than Toyota's simple U-shape cells that are
so familiar from the Lean Manufacturing literature.
Group
Technology unravels
these complex product-process mixes. GT focuses on similarities
in products. It streamlines manufacturing, design and many other
activities.
The
most important role for Group
Technology is the formation of part families
from hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of seemingly unique
products. Each family uses a group of machines for its manufacture and
this machine group forms the nucleus
of a workcell.
Our
introductory web page on GT
explains and illustrates the concept with a striking
photograph. From there, you can explore three
tools for analysis:
Intuitive
Grouping
Production
Flow Analysis
Coding
and Classification.
Our
next issue explores the differences
between simple U-shape Toyota workcells and the more complex Group
Technology cells. See you then.
Quarterman
Lee
Please
feel free to forward this Lean Briefing to colleagues or use it in
your publication. We only ask that you do so in its entirety. |