Cellular

Manufacturing

Adapted from:
Facilities Planning 3rd Ed. by Tompkins, White, Bozer, Tanchoco
Cellular Manufacturing: Introduction

 Product layout is the most efficient layout

 Many products are not made in volumes that
require a product layout
 Cellular manufacturing ( group technology)-
forms families of products that have common
production requirements
 Locate machines, people, jigs, fixtures, drawings,
measuring equipment, material handling
equipment together
Cellular Manufacturing: Introduction
 The cellular approach is to organize the entire
manufacturing process for a particular or similar
products into one group of team members and
machines known as cells
 These machines are arranged in U shaped layout
to 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
 Cellular Manufacturing: Introduction

 Fast setup and quick changeovers are essential to

Cellular Manufacturing 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

 Empowered Employees in Cellular
Manufacturing
 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 Demand
Pull
 Cells are responsible for planning, scheduling and
expediting directly with vendors
 KANBAN is established and maintained with vendors
 Advance Cell 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 with 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.
 Benefits of Cellular Manufacturing
 Common tooling required for many products ( fewer
setups)
 Tooling can be justified since many products require it.
( more volume when products are grouped)
 Minimized material handling
 Simple production schedule
 Short cycle time
 Low WIP
 Cross-training- employees operate several machines
 Minimized material handling costs-since no paperwork
is required and distance is small
 Benefits of Cellular
Manufacturing
 Employees accept more
responsibility of
supervision (
scheduling of parts
within cell, scheduling
of vacations,
purchasing of material ,
managing a budget)
 Simple flow pattern
and reduced paperwork
 Disadvantage of Cellular Manufacturing
 Lower equipment
utilization
 Increased setup costs
 Family Formation
 Direct Clustering Algorithm ( DCA )– an approach use
in the selection of machine and part types for a particular
cell.
Step 1. Make a machine-part matrix and total the 1s in each
column and in each row.
Machine #
Part # 1 2 3 4 5 # of 1s
1 1 1 2
2 1 1
3 1 1 1 3
4 1 1 2
5 1 1
6 1 1 2
# of 1s 3 2 2 2 2
 Family Formation
Step 2. Order the rows ( top to bottom) in descending order of the
number of 1s in the rows and order the columns ( left to rigth) in
ascending order of the number of 1s in columns. When ties exist,
break the ties in descending numerical sequence.

Machine #
Part # 5 4 3 2 1 # of 1s
3 1 1 1 3
6 1 1 2
4 1 1 2
1 1 1 2
5 1 1
2 1 1
# of 1s 2 2 2 2 3
 Family Formation
Step 3. Sort the columns. Beginning with first row of the matrix, shift to
the left of the matrix all columns having a 1 in the first row. Continue
the process row by row until no further opportunity exists for shifting
columns.

Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1 # of 1s
3 1 1 1 3
6 1 1 2
4 1 1 2
1 1 1 2
5 1 1
2 1 1
`# of 1s 2 2 2 2 3
 Family Formation
Step 4. Sort the rows. Column by column ,beginning with the left most
column, shift rows upward when opportunities exist to form blocks of
1s.

Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1 # of 1s
3 1 1 1 3
6 1 1 2
5 1 1
4 1 1 2
1 1 1 2
2 1 1
# of 1s 2 2 2 2 3
 Family Formation

Step 5. Form cells. Look for opportunities to form cells such that all
processing for each part occurs in a single cells.

Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1
3 1 1 1
6 1 1
5 1
4 1 1
1 1 1
2 1
 Example 1:
Machine#
1 2 3 4
* *
Part# 1
2 *
3 *
4 * *
 Example 2:
Machine#
1 2 3 4 5
Part# 1 * *
2 *
3 * * *
4 * *
5 *
6 * *
Example 3:
Machine #
Part # 1 2 3 4 5 # of 1s
1 1 1 2
2 1 1
3 1 1 1 3
4 1 1 2
5 1 1 2
6 1 1 2
# of 1s 3 2 3 2 2
Ordered machine-part matrix
Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1 # of 1s
3 1 1 1 3
6 1 1 2
5 1 1 2
4 1 1 2
1 1 1 2
2 1 1
# of 1s 2 2 2 3 3
 Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1
3 1 1 1
6 1 1
5 1 1
4 1 1
1 1 1
2 1
(a)
 Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1
3 1 1 1
6 1 1
5 1 1
4 1 1
1 1 1
2 1
(b)
 Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3 1
3 1 1 1
6 1 1
5 1 1
4 1 1
1 1 1
2 1
(c)
Cell formation with duplicate machine 2

Machine #
Part # 5 4 2a 2b 3 1
3 1 1 1
6 1 1
5 1 1
4 1 1
1 1 1
2 1
Cell formation with duplicate machine 3

Machine #
Part # 5 4 2 3a 3b 1
3 1 1 1
6 1 1
5 1 1
4 1 1
1 1 1
2 1