A Practical Methodology for Cellular Manufacturing Systems Design - an Industrial Study

The product oriented organization of manufacturing systems based on group technology cells, typical of lean production, is a very effective organization to timely meet customer requirements and take full advantage of production resources. Frequently it has been pointed out that studies on cellular manufacturing systems tend to be theoretical and addressing only a few of the relevant practical issues. In this paper, a comprehensive industrial study for reconfiguring a production system into a product oriented manufacturing system, based on GT cells, carried out in a company manufacturing leather goods, it is reported. This study take into account all important and necessary issues, for system reconfiguration, namely capacity requirements, actual and expected future demand, existing resources and required and available physical space. A practical methodological approach for part family formation, machines allocation to cells and cellular layout planning are put forward. Procedures for dealing with exceptional elements towards minimizing intercellular workflow and for streamlining material flow within cells and across cells are also described and implemented. In this particular study separating kits of raw parts at the beginning of parts processing and joined them together again at the end of processing was a requirement that needed to be addressed and made reliable to avoid severe mistakes when assembling parts into final products. This requirement was an additional motivation for organizing production into cells leading to a much more reliable kitting operation greatly due to the streamlined and synchronized work flow of parts achieved. The study proposes reorganizing the system into three quasiautonomous GT cells and a gateway work centre, with resources practically reduced to the minimum required based on product demand. The study compares the initial configuration solution with the proposed one showing advantages of the proposed solution under a few evaluation issues, namely in relation to work flow organization, movement of materials and reliability of the parts kitting for final assembly.