Cellular Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing Series

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Disclaimer and Approved Use
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▫  This presentation is intended for use in training individuals within an organization. The
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Contents
1.  Introduction
2.  Background and History
3.  Components and Implementation
4.  Knowledge Check

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Introduction
•  Cellular Manufacturing is a workplace design reflecting
concepts of lean manufacturing. Waste is reduced and
resources are combined to provide maximum efficiency.
Cellular manufacturing, sometimes called cellular or
cell production, is the idea of manufacturing an entire
product or small product line in the same work cell.
Process and product changeovers are minimized and
part operations are linked to help reduce waste and
eliminate overproduction.

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Background and History
•  At Toyota in the 1950’s Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo
began to incorporate Ford production techniques into
what would become the Toyota Production System
•  Toyota soon discovered that factory workers had far
more to contribute than just muscle power. This
probably originated in the Quality Circle movement.
•  This culminated in team development and cellular
manufacturing.

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Components & Implementation
•  Types of Factory Layouts
•  Fundamentals of Cellular Layouts
•  Advantages and Limitations
•  Advanced Cellular Manufacturing

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Effective Facility Layout
•  Minimize material handling costs
•  Utilize space efficiently & effectively
•  Utilize labor efficiently & effectively
•  Eliminate bottlenecks
•  Eliminate wasted or redundant movement
•  Incorporate safety & security measures

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Basic Layouts
•  There are three basic types of layouts:
▫  Process
▫  Product
▫  Fixed-position
•  Fixed-position
▫  Flexible and Mixed-Model manufacturing systems
▫  Cellular

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Process Layout
•  A layout that groups similar activities together in
departments of work centers according to process or
functions that they perform.
•  Advantages
▫  Deep knowledge of the process
▫  Common tooling and fixtures
▫  Most Flexible -- can produce many different part types
•  Disadvantages
▫  Spaghetti flow -- everything gets all tangled up
▫  Lots of in-process materials
▫  Hard to control inter-department activities
▫  Can be difficult to automate

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Product Layout
•  A facility layout that arranges activities in a line
according to the sequence of operations that need to
be performed to assemble a product, while minimizing
material handling costs.

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Product Layout
•  Layout corresponds to the sequence of operations, smooth
and logical flow lines result
•  Work from one process is fed directly into the next, small in-
process inventories result
•  Total production time per unit is short
•  Machines are located as to minimize distances between
consecutive operations, material handling is reduced
•  Little skill is usually required by operators at the production
line; hence, training is simple, short and inexpensive
•  Simple production planning and control systems are possible
•  Less space is occupied by work in transit and for temporary
storage
•  Lower variable cost per unit
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Product Layout
•  Advantages
▫  Stable rate of output.
▫  Work-in-process inventory is low.
▫  Total production time/unit is reduced.
▫  Space is effectively utilized.
▫  Labor pool is large
•  Disadvantages
▫  If one machine fails the whole process stops.
▫  Changes in product design can render the layout obsolete.
▫  Bottlenecks govern the speed.
▫  Large support staff required.
▫  High fixed costs.

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Fixed Position Layouts
•  The product remains stationary for the entire
manufacturing cycle.
•  Equipment, workers, materials, and other resources are
brought to the production site.
•  Advantages
▫  Material movement is reduced
▫  Promotes job enlargement by allowing individuals or teams the
perform “whole job”
▫  Continuity of operations and responsibility results from team
▫  High flexibility; can accommodate changes in product design,
product mix, and production volume
▫  Independent of production centers allows scheduling to achieve
minimum total production time

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Fixed Position Layout
•  Disadvantages
▫  Increased movement of personnel and equipment
▫  Equipment duplication may occur
▫  Higher skill requirements for personnel
▫  General supervision required
▫  Cumbersome and costly positioning of material and machinery
▫  Low equipment utilization

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Hybrid Layouts
•  Flexible & Mixed-Model
▫  High level of complexity
▫  Mathematically intensive
•  Cellular

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Cellular Layouts
•  The cellular approach is to organize the entire
manufacturing process for particular or similar products
into one group of team members and machines known
as a "Cell".
•  These "cells" are arranged in a U-shaped layout to
easily facilitate a variety of operations.
•  Parts or assemblies move one at a time (or in small
batch sizes).
•  The parts are handed off from operation to operation
without opportunity to build up between operations.

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Cellular Layouts
•  Fast setup and quick changeovers are essential to
Cellular Manufacturing systems since production runs
are shorter.
•  Setup reduction principles are used to achieve one
piece flow and mixed model synchronization.
•  All cells concentrate on eliminating waste.

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Work Cells - Advantages
•  Increased machine utilization
•  Team attitude and job enlargement tend to occur
•  Compromise between product layout and process
layout, with associated advantages
•  Supports the use of general purpose equipment
•  Shorter travel distances and smoother flow lines than
for process layout

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Work Cells - Advantages
•  Reduced work-in-process inventory
•  Less floor space required
•  Reduced raw material and finished goods inventories
required
•  Reduced direct labor costs
•  Heightened sense of employee participation
•  Increased utilization of equipment machinery
•  Reduced investment in machinery and equipment

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 19

Work Cells - Limitations
•  Higher skill levels required of employees than for
product layout
•  Compromise between product and process layout, with
associated limitations
•  Depends on balanced material flow through the cell;
otherwise, buffers and work-in-process storage are
required
•  Lower machine utilization than for process layout

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Functional vs. Cellular – Material Flow
Element Functional Cellular
Moves Many Few

Travel Distance More Less

Routings Complex Simple

Route Structure Variable Fixed

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Functional vs. Cellular – People
Element Functional Cellular
Responsibility Fragmented Focused

Problem Solving Difficult Team

Quality Erratic Consistent

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Functional vs. Cellular – Inventory
Element Functional Cellular
Lot Sizes Large Small

Queues More than 10 Less than 10

Stocking Policy Make to Stock Make to Order

Scheduling Complex Simple

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Functional vs. Cellular – Customer Service
Element Functional Cellular
Response Weeks Hours

Delivery Speed Weeks-Months Days

Delivery Erratic Consistent

Reliability

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Creating Cells
•  First, define the “cells” by the following criteria:
▫  Processes required
▫  Part numbers and attributes
▫  Market segments / customers
▫  Degree of automation
•  Good intuition
•  Careful study
•  Group Technology (GT)
•  Production Flow Analysis (PFA)

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Creating Cells
•  Selecting the Products
•  Engineering the Process
•  Designing the Infrastructure
•  Layout the Workcell

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Creating Cells
•  Team selection is crucial
▫  Identify important skills needed such as teamwork and
leadership skills
▫  Create a process map
▫  Develop a checklist for selecting members

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Part Families
•  Part families with •  Part families with
similarity in similarity in shape
manufacturing process

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Part Family Formation
•  Various levels – macro and micro
•  Macro – entire factories (focused factories) can
specialize in a particular type of part
•  Micro – families can be based on similarities in part
geometry (group shafts, flat parts, gears, etc…),
process requirements (castings, forgings, sheet metal
parts, heat-treated parts, printed circuit boards)

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Finding Part Families
•  Visual Inspection of physical parts or photographs to
identify similarities.
•  Coding and Classification of parts by examining design
and/or manufacturing attributes.
▫  OPITZ System
▫  MICLASS System
•  Here a code is assigned to specific features of the part.
▫  Is the part cylindrical or prismatic?
▫  Does it have threads?
▫  Does it have through slots?
▫  Does it require heat treatment?
•  This requires a large initial time investment in coding
and classifying all parts.
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Visual Inspection
•  Easiest and least expensive method
•  Classification takes place by looking at their
photographs or physical parts

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Parts Classification And Coding
•  Coding is done by a system called OPTIZ SYSTEM
•  Digit sequence for the code is
•  12345 6789 ABCD

Secondary
Form code Supplementary Code
Code

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Production Flow Analysis
•  PFA is a technique that uses Operation Routing
Summaries as input. It clusters the parts that require
the same processes. These parts can then be
assembled into a part family. The processes can be
grouped into a cell to minimize material handling
requirements.

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PFA - Organizational View
1.  Production Flow Analysis consists of 5 different
analyses:
2.  Company Flow Analysis
3.  Factory Flow Analysis
4.  Group Analysis
5.  Tooling Analysis

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Company Flow Analysis
•  A Planning technique used for the division of large
companies into factory components. It aims to simplify
the flow of materials between factories.
•  Uses FROM-TO charts and frequency charts and a flow
analysis
•  Is not a decision making model, but presents data in a
way that decisions can be made based on a company’s
goal.

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Factory Flow Analysis
•  An attempt is made at this stage to find major groups
of departments, and major families of components
which can be completely processed in these
departments
•  The goal is to change factories from process
organization to product organization and to minimize
interdepartmental material flow

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Factory Flow Analysis - Methodology
•  Study and map the existing flow system
•  Identify the dominant material flows between shops (or
buildings)
•  Determine the Process Route Number (PRN) for each
part
•  Analyze the part by PRN.
•  Combine closely associated processes at departments
that complete most of the parts they make
•  If parts are observed to backtrack then such flows are
eliminated by minor redeployment of equipment

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Group Analysis
•  The flows in each of the individual shops (identified by
FFA) are analyzed.
•  Operation sequences of the parts that are being
produced in a particular shop are analyzed to identify
manufacturing cells.
•  Loads are calculated for each part family to obtain the
equipment requirements for each cell

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Group Analysis
•  Essentially, while forming and rearranging the PFA
matrix we were performing Group Analysis.
•  Those same algorithms are also employed in PFA
activities other than Group Analysis (namely CFA, FFA
etc..)
•  Choice of algorithm or technique that is best suited is,
for the most part, a problem specific issue

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Line Analysis
•  A linear or U-layout is designed for the machines
assigned to each cell.
•  The routings for each part assigned to the cell and the
frequency of use of each routing are used to develop a
cell for:
▫  Efficient transport
▫  Minimum material handling and travel by operators.

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Tooling Analysis
•  A Tooling Analysis helps to schedule the cell by
identifying families of parts with similar operation
sequences, tooling and setups.
•  It seeks to sequence parts on each machine to
sequence all the machines in the cell to reduce setup
times and batch sizes.
•  This increases available machine capacity on
bottleneck work canters in the cell.

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PFA: Assumptions
•  Each component is equally important in terms of cost
•  Lot size & its associated cost are not directly related to
grouping procedure
•  Routing is assumed to be optimal

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PFA: Advantages
•  Reduces flow distances
•  Better suited to JIT and “pull” manufacturing as the
overall flow is much straighter
•  Simple and Easy to implement
•  Experience: Lots of Research and Background and
support software

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PFA: Weakness
•  PFA is suitable mostly for small-sized applications, but
it has difficulties coping with some large cell formation
problems when the Machine-Part Matrix becomes more
complex because of problem size

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Line Balancing
•  Line balancing a important part in Cellular System
•  Improper balance leads to several effects
▫  Excess Inventory
▫  Idle Equipment
▫  Idle People
▫  Individual Frustration

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Empowered Employees in Cells
•  Goals and tracking charts are maintained and posted.
•  Problems are solved through daily cell meetings and
problem solving teams.
•  The inventory management system is a KANBAN instead
of a work order/kit picking system.
•  Cells are responsible for planning, scheduling and
expediting directly with vendors.
•  They establish and maintain a KANBAN system with the
vendors.

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Advanced Cellular Manufacturing
•  The cell operates like an independent business with
total responsibility for quality, manufacturing and
delivery of the product to the customer.
•  All cells have the resources within their organization to
accomplish their mission.
•  The requirements are known and goals are established
•  Cell members are flexible and work in teams to
accomplish their goals including continuous
improvement.

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 Knowledge Check

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What are some results of effective facility
layout? (Mark all that apply)

1.  Minimize material handling costs

2.  Utilize space efficiently &
effectively
3.  Utilize labor efficiently &
effectively
4.  Eliminate bottlenecks

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 49

What are the basic types of layouts? (Mark all that
apply)

1.  Process

2.  Product

3.  Fixed-position

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What are some of the disadvantages of process
layout? (Mark all that apply)
1.  Spaghetti flow -- everything
gets all tangled up

2.  Little in-process materials

3.  Hard to control inter-

department activities

4.  Can be difficult to automate

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 51

What are the advantages of product layout? (Mark
all that apply)

1.  Stable rate of output.

2.  Work-in-process inventory is

low.

3.  Total production time/unit is

increased.

4.  Space is effectively utilized.

5.  Labor pool is large.

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 52

What are the disadvantages of fixed position
layout? (Mark all that apply)
1.  Increased movement of
personnel and equipment
2.  Equipment duplication may
occur
3.  Higher skill requirements for
personnel
4.  Cumbersome and costly
positioning of material and
machinery
5.  Low equipment utilization

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 53

What are the advantages of cellular layouts over
product and process layouts? (Mark all that apply)
1.  Increased machine
utilization
2.  Team attitude and job
enlargement tend to
occur
3.  Supports the use of
general purpose
equipment
4.  Shorter travel distances
and smoother flow lines
than for process layout

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 54

What is the purpose of the “U” shape of a cell?
(Mark all that apply)

1.  Easily facilitate a variety

of operations.
2.  Parts or assemblies move
one at a time (or in small
batch sizes).
3.  The parts are handed off
from operation to
operation without
opportunity to build up
between operations.

© 2013 Gemba Academy LLC. All rights reserved. 55

How can you determine which parts should be in
which cell?
o  A) Company Flow Analysis
o  B) Factory Flow Analysis
o  C) Production Flow Analysis
o  D) Group Analysis

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How can you implement cellular manufacturing in your
current organization?

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Congratulations!!!
•  You have completed the course.

•  Visit Superfactory (www.superfactory.com) for more

information on manufacturing excellence.

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