Cellular manufacturing is a lean approach that arranges equipment and workstations to smoothly process materials with minimal waste or delays (paragraph 1). A manufacturing cell consists of the machines needed to perform each step of a product's process arranged in sequence (paragraph 2). Cellular manufacturing helps companies achieve one-piece flow and produce high product variety through flexible cells organized by product families (paragraph 3). While not always possible, the goal is continuous material flow with minimal waiting between steps (paragraph 5).

1. CELLULAR MANUFACTURING
CELLULAR MANUFACTURING

2. What is Cellular Manufacturing ?
• A lean manufacturing approach that helps companies build a
variety of products with as little waste as possible
• Equipment and workstations arranged in a sequence that
supports smooth material flow through the process, with
minimal transport or delay
• Derived from the word Cell
• A Manufacturing Cell consists of people and machines or
workstations required for performing the process steps
• For example - if a process for a product requires cutting,
followed by drilling and finishing, the cell would include the
equipment for performing those steps, arranged in that order
• Helps companies achieve two important goals of lean:
– One-piece flow
– High-variety production

3. One Piece Flow
• One-piece flow is the state that exists when products move
through a manufacturing process one unit at a time, at a rate
determined by the needs of the customer
• The opposite of one-piece flow is large-lot production
– Goods produced in large lots build delays into the process
– No items can move on to the next process until all items in
the lot have been processed
– The larger the lot, the longer the items sit and wait
between steps
• One-piece flow is an ideal state
• In daily operation, it is not always possible or desirable to
process items just one at a time
The important thing is to promote continuous flow of products,
with the least amount of delay and waiting

4. High-Variety Production
 In the early days, a company could produce one type of product
• Customers would buy it even if it wasn’t exactly what they liked
 Today customers expect variety and customization
• Specific quantities delivered at a specific time
 If your company is not flexible enough to serve their needs
customers will go to your competitor
 Cellular manufacturing offers flexibility to give customers the variety
they want
• By grouping similar products into families that can be processed on
same equipment in the same sequence
• Encourages companies to shorten changeover time between
products
• Eliminates a major reason for large-lot production

5. One-Piece Flow Vs. Large-Lot
Production

6. CMS & Group Technology(GT)
• CMS layout are based on recognizing similarities in
products – similarities in geometry, size, materials
and processing requirements
• This similar products are collected – “Grouped”
instead of being treated as individuals
• Leads to product families that visit similar
equipment and populate their ‘cells’ production
schedule
• Simpler setups like in a Job shop can follow and the
workers become multifunctional and responsible for
all aspects of a product – and its quality
• Cells can be scheduled to produce synchronously
bringing the various sub-assemblies in as needed at
final assembly with greater variety built in

7. Traditional Processes
• Based on FUNCTIONAL approach
• ‘Job Shop’ mentality
• Pushed in Batches
• Very little visibility & linkages

8. Comparison of Process & Cellular
Layouts

10. U-Turn Cells Layout
• People assigned to multiple types of
equipment. People & materials move from
station to station.

11. Clustering Techniques: the
Fundamental Issue in Cell
Development
• We cluster parts to build part families
– Part Families visit cells
– Part Families share set-up ideas and equipment
(Family Fixtures)
– Part Families follow the same (or similar) process
routing
– These are the ideas and activities that offer
reported benefits

12. Clustering Techniques: The
Fundamental Issue in Cell
Development
• We cluster Machines to build cells:
– Cells lead to Flow Mathematics
– Cells contain all equipment needed to produce a part
family
– Cells allow development of Multi-functional workers
– Cells hold work teams responsible for production and
quality “They Empower” the workers
• Empowered to set internal schedules
• Empowered to assign tasks
• Empowered to train and rotate jobs

13. Objectives of Cell Design
• Reduce defects.
• Increase space
utilization
• Decrease WIP
• Engaging suppliers
within the cell
• Materials at point
of use
• Reduce Lead Time

14. 12
1
2
3
4
5
6 7
8
9
10
11
A B C Raw materials
Assembly
Cellular Layouts Example

15. Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A x x x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
D x x x x x
E x x x
F x x x
G x x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

16. Parts 1 2 4 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A x x x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
D x x x x x
E x x x
F x x x
G x x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

17. Parts 1 2 4 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A x x x x x
D x x x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
E x x x
F x x x
G x x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

18. Parts 1 2 4 8 3 5 6 7 9 10 11 12
A x x x x x
D x x x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
E x x x
F x x x
G x x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

19. Parts 1 2 4 8 3 5 6 7 9 10 11 12
A x x x x x
D x x x x x
F x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
E x x x
G x x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

20. Parts 1 2 4 8 10 3 5 6 7 9 11 12
A x x x x x
D x x x x x
F x x x
B x x x x
C x x x
E x x x
G x x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

21. Parts 1 2 4 8 10 3 6 9 5 7 11 12
A x x x x x
D x x x x x
F x x x
C x x x
G x x x x
B x x x x
E x x x
H x x x
Machines
Cellular Layouts Example

22. 12
12 3
4
5
6
7
8 910
11
A BCRaw materials
Cell1
Cell 2 Cell 3
Assembly
Cellular Layouts Example
Each of A, B, C now visits only one area, minimizing jumping.

23. Benefits of Cellular Manufacturing
• Promoting one-piece flow through cellular manufacturing
can help make your company more competitive
• Cut costly transport and delay from the manufacturing
process
• Shortens the production lead time
– Serves customer needs
– Gives an earlier return on the investment in the product
• Saves space in the factory
– Can be used for other value-adding purposes
• Promotes continuous improvement
– By forcing solutions to problems that block low-inventory
production

24. Disadvantages of Cellular
Manufacturing
• Sometimes cells may not be formed because of
inadequate part families.
• Some cells may have a high volume of production and
others very low. This results in poorly balanced cells
• When volume of production changes, number of
workers are adjusted and workers are reassigned to
various cells. To cope with this type of reassignments,
workers must be multi-skilled and cross-trained.
• Sometimes, machines are duplicated in different cells.
This increases capital investment.