Cellular manufacturing

Hyer, N., and U. Wemmerlov. Reorganizing the Factory Competing through Cellular Manufacturing. Portland, OR Productivity Press, 2002. 

Shaw, M. J. (1988), Dynamic Scheduling in Cellular Manufacturing Systems A Framework for Networked Decision Making, Journal of Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 83-94. 

This idea of creating supply chains with unique characteristics constitutes one of the basic ideas behind the development of cellular manufacturing systems. 

Another relevant paradigm is cellular manufacturing, aimed to improve productivity... 

Drolet J, Abdulnour G, Rheault M (1996) The cellular manufacturing evolutiorL Comp Ind... 

Nomden G, van der Zee D-J (2008) Virtual cellular manufacturing ctmliguring routing flexibility. Int J Prod Econ 112(1) 439 51... 

Khilwani N, Ulutas BH, Attila Islier A, Tiwari MK (2009) A methodology to design virtual cellular manufacturing systems. J Intell Manuf, Springer, 22(4) 533-544... 

AHP has also been applied together with case study methods in different areas like Evaluation of critical success factors of ISO 14001 implementation in a case study in Malaysia (Sambasivan and Fei 2008), Case study to the selection of a multimedia authoring system in software selection (Lai et al. 1999), Case study of design and evaluation of automated cellular manufacturing systems with simulation modeling and AHP approach (Chan and Abhary 1996), just to give some examples available in the literature. 

Chan P, Abhary K (1996) Design and evaluation of automated cellular manufacturing systems with simulation modeling and AHP approach a case study. Integr Manuf Syst 7(6) 39-52 Ho W (2008) Integrated analytic hierarchy process and its applications - a literatiue review. Eiu J... 

Cellular manufacturing—A manufacturing process that produces families of parts within a single line or cell of machines operated by machinists who work only within the line or cell. 

This ability of team workers to assist each other is greatly enhanced by locating the team s operations in a layout that facilitates sharing the work. Group technology layouts or cellular manufacturing layouts complement the use of teams. These types of layouts allow team workers fast access to different parts of the process, so there is little delay in switching from one task to another. 

Cellular manufacturing has other benefits. A major one is improved quality. In a functional batch manufacturing setup, a whole batch of bad product may be produced before the error is detected. In the high-velocity cellular environment, the next operation will receive the product much more quickly, and defects will be caught before more bad products are produced. Feedback to the operator producing the bad parts is also fast, facilitating a learning environment. Features like this are one of the pillars of the Toyota Production System. 

The agile enterprise extends the philosophy of cellular manufacturing up into the organization. It would encompass infrastmcture, including control systems, union contracts, rewards and incentives, information systems, and technology competencies. This means, in all probability, that the focused factory or cell can even be dissociated from the enterprise. 

Cellular manufacturing, described in Section 28.5.2, is another example often implemented on the shop floor. Clustering unlike operations gives rapid feedback to workers on quality, cuts production cycle time, and enables companies to match production to actual demand, thereby eliminating dependence on forecasts. Integration in this case increases along all three dimensions. 

Cellular manufacturing A manufacturing process that produces families of parts within a single line or cell of machines with operators who work only within the line or cell. The cellular concept is also applicable to administrative and technical process. In this context, it means clustering unlike operations to increase processing velocity. 

For retailers (e.g., Amazon), leadtime performance is purely determined by the structure and execution of inventory and distribution policies. But for firms that also manufacture or assemble products (e.g., Dell), the production function is also a driver of performance. Of course, all of the usual methods for achieving manufacturing efficiency (lean, agile, cellular manufacturing, etc.) are relevant to e-commerce settings. As we have noted above, modular product architectures and assemble-to-order production systems are particularly well-adapted to supporting quick-response manufacturing with which to support an e-commerce system. Since the issues of speed, variety, quality and flexibility were clearly priorities prior to the advent of e-commerce, research that addresses these remains relevant but has not been radically affected by the Internet. 

We started a new idea in our assembly plant called a cellular manufacturing system. We organised small cells and the participants were from all levels of the company including executives from different departments like maintenance. [And did it work out ] No, it didn t last long. [Why not ] Because I would say that here the culture is such that people do not like change so they were not receptive to it and secondly not all departments were involved in it that you needed to execute a job. For example if there was a problem and the maintenance department had to fix it they would say Okay we have indented the parts and when we get... 

Make process is engineer-to-order Change make process to engineer-to-order (e.g. cellular manufacturing)... 

Because demand had increased dramatically. Acme needed to use all the plant and equipment capacity available. The uhlization maximization activity supports this goal. It includes a number of measures like improved maintenance, reduced set up, and cellular manufacturing to get more from scarce machine and personnel capacity. This activity was also important to help Acme get ahead of its backlog and reduce its lead times. 

The Johnson and Johnson plants in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, right across the border from El Paso, Texas, have become leaders in the effective utilization of JIT processes. They utilize cellular manufacturing, teaming and team incentives, and empowerment, and are heavily involved in TQM (Total Quality Management) systems throughout all their plants. Johnson and Johnson employs about 3,700 personnel in Mexico. They have won Mexico s National Quality Award and have received the United States Shingo Prize for manufacturing excellence. 

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