Strategos
Lean Briefing
The
Newsletter of Lean Manufacturing & Factory Science
October
2,
2003
www.strategosinc.com
Group
Technology Workcells are Different!
Taming
The Variety Beast
Our
last issue explored the discipline of Group Technology (GT). We saw how it
forms rationalized part families even in complex product
mixes having thousands of parts. Here, we extend that
discussion to the workcells for GT families.
Many
of the rules and procedures for
workcells that originated at Toyota do not fit
the GT situation. They were developed by pragmatists (Ohno and
Shingo) specifically for Toyota's business. Now, the Toyota approach
seems to have evolved into a "One size fits all" manufacturing
dogma.
The
complexity of GT families demands different
approaches. The results are also quite different than the
simple Toyota workcells common in high-volume, low-variety production like
the automotive industry. The differences show up in:
-
Workflow
-
Process
Technology
-
Batch
Sizing
-
Transfer
Batch
-
Layout
Our
new web page, "GT Workcells are
Different", expands on this topic. It also links to other
pages on Cellular Manufacturing. In these pages you will find examples
of GT workcells and more discussion on workcell design.
Our
next issue will go out around St. Crispin's day. This is an appropriate
time for the topic of Leadership and
Shakespeare has much to say about it. See you then.
Quarterman
Lee
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