Cellular Manufacturing and Plant Layout

1. Cellular Manufacturingand Plant Layout Lean Manufacturing Series

2. Outline • Fundamentals of layout • Process • Product • Fixed • Hybrid • Cellular Manufacturing • Characteristics • Implementing Cells • Part Families • Production Flow Analysis

3. L G G L M Product Layout G D Part #1 M L A A Receiving Part #2 D M L Shipping Part #3

4. 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 Demand Pull 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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