Cellular Manufacturing

and Plant Layout

Superfactory Excellence Program™

www.superfactory.com

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 1

 Disclaimer and Approved use

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 The files in the Superfactory Excellence Program by Superfactory Ventures LLC
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© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 2

 Outline

 Fundamentals of layout
 Process

 Product

 Fixed

 Hybrid

 Cellular Manufacturing
 Characteristics

 Implementing Cells
 Part Families
 Production Flow Analysis

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 3

 What is the Facility Layout Problem?

 Concerned with arrangement of machines, cells, or

departments.
 Often computationally difficult.
 A decision is both quantitative & qualitative.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 4

 Why is the Layout Problem Difficult?

 It has geometric and combinational aspects.

 Jig-saw puzzle.
 Difficult picture

 No picture

 No shapes

 Goal: Minimize material handling costs.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 5

 Effective Facility Layout

 Minimize material handling costs

 Utilize space efficiently & effectively
 Utilize labor efficiently & effectively
 Eliminate bottlenecks
 Eliminate wasted or redundant movement
 Incorporate safety & security measures

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 6

 Basic Layouts

 There are three basic types of layouts:

 Process
 Product
 Fixed-position
 There are two hybrid types of layouts
 Flexible and Mixed-Model manufacturing systems
 Cellular

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 7

 Process Layout

 Process layouts (functional layouts)

 Definition – A layout that groups similar activities
together in departments of work centers according to
process or functions that they perform.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 8

 Characteristics of Process layout

 Goal – To minimize material handling cost

 Product – Varied made to order
 Demand – Fluctuates
 Production volume – low (custom products)
 Inventory – High in process
- Low in finished goods
 Storage Space – relatively large
 Aisles – tend to be wide
 Material handling – variable path (forklift)

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 9

 Characteristics

 Layout decision – machine location based

 Workers tend to be skilled at operating the

equipment in their departments

 Intermittent, job shop, batch production, mainly

fabrication

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 10

 Process Layout

Lathe Lathe Drill Weld Weld

Warehouse

Warehouse
Lathe Lathe Drill Paint Paint

Mill Mill Grind Assembly

Mill Mill Grind Assembly

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 11

 Process-Oriented Layout

 Department areas having similar processes located in close

proximity
 Design places departments with large flows of material or
people together

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 12

 Process Layout - Advantages

 Better utilization of machines

 Fewer machines required
 High degree of flexibility relative to equipment or manpower
allocation for specific tasks
 Comparatively low investment in machines is required
 The diversity of the task offers a more interesting and
satisfying occupation for the operator
 Specialized supervision is possible

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 13

 Process Layout Characteristics

 Advantages
 Deep knowledge of the process

 Common tooling and fixtures

 Most Flexible -- can produce many different part types

 Disadvantages
 Spaghetti flow -- everything gets all tangled up

 Lots of in-process materials

 Hard to control inter-department activities

 Can be difficult to automate

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 14

 Process Layout - Limitations

 Since longer flow lines usually result, material handling is more

expensive
 Production planning and control systems are more involved
 Total production time is usually longer
 Comparatively large amounts of in-process inventory results
 Space and capital are tied up by work-in-process
 Because of the diversity of the jobs in specialized departments, higher
grades of skill are required
 Inefficient
 Because jobs or customers do not flow through in an orderly
fashion; backtracking is common.
 Idling
 Workers may experience more “idle time” if they are waiting
around for more work to arrive from a different department.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 15

 Impact of Interruptions on Flow Paths

Lathe Drill Grind Drill

Press Bend Drill Mill

Mill Drill Drill Mill

Lathe Lathe Mill Drill

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 16

 Designing Process Layouts

 The main goal to keep in mind is to minimize material

handling costs
 Therefore the departments that incur the most
interdepartmental movement should be located closest
to one another
 Two types of design layouts
 Block diagramming
 Relationship diagramming

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 17

 Block Diagramming
 This refers to the movement of materials in existing or
proposed facility
 Information is usually provided with a from/to chart or
load summary chart

 This gives the average number of units loads moved

between departments

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 18

 Block Diagramming

 A unit load can be a single unit, a pallet of material a bin of

material, or a crate of material
 Material is constantly moving from location to location

 The next step is to design the layout by calculating the

composite movements between departments and rank
them from most movement to least movement
 Composite movement refers to the back-and-forth
movement between each pair of departments
 Finally, trial layouts are place on a gird that graphically
represents the relative distances between departments.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 19

 Relationship Diagramming

 For situations in which quantitative date is hard to

obtain it is more relevant to use a relationship
diagramming technique

 Richard Muther developed a format for displaying

manger preferences for departmental locations, know as
Muther’s grid

 Muther’s diagram uses codes and letter to represent

how close departments are to one another

 The information from Muther’s diagram can be used to

make a relationship diagram to evaluate a current
layout or proposed layouts

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 20

 Computerized Layout Solutions

 Several computer programs exist that assist in

designing process layouts
 The best known are CRAFT (Computerized Relative
Allocation of Facilities Technique) and CORELAP
(Computerized Relationship Layout Planning)
 Basically the computer program is given layout date
and then makes a recommendation

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 21

 Service Layouts

 Most Service organizations use process layouts because

of the variability in customer requests for service

 Service organizations look to maximize profits per unit of

display space, rather than minimize customer flow

 The layout must be aesthetically pleasing we well as

functional

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 22

 Process in Manufacturing firms

 Process layouts require flexible material handling

equipment (such as forklifts) which can follow multiple
paths and carry large loads of in-process goods
 All areas of the facility must have timely access to the
material handling equipment

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 23

 The Product Layout

 Definition
 A facility layout that arranges activities in a line
according to the sequence of operations that need to be
performed to assemble a product, while minimizing
material handling costs.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 24

 History of the Product Layout

 1895 - Frederick Winslow Taylor.

 Work should be broken into individual tasks.

 Those tasks can be shortened or eliminated.

 Frank Gilbreth - Time study techniques.

 Work combined led to maximum efficiency in industrial
work.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 25

 History

 1909 - Henry Ford

 Boosted recognition for Taylor and Gilbreth’s ideas.

 Increased productivity on his Model T by pulling the car

through the plant at a constant speed while workers
added accumulated parts.
 Production time decreased from 12 hours and 8 minutes
to 1 hour and 33 minutes.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 26

 History

 In the 1920’s manufacturers moved away from assembly

lines to gain flexibility in their products.
 The Product Layout came back into style as a form called
Flow Manufacturing emerged in the 1970’s.
 The Product Layout is still popular today.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 27

 Product Layouts

 Most appropriate for continuous operations.

 Used for products with high volume and steady demand.
 Machines perform a singular, specialized task.
 Machines are organized consecutively.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 28

 Product Layout

Lathe Drill Grind Drill

Warehouse

Press Bend Drill

Assembly
Mill Drill

Lathe Lathe Drill

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 29

 Product Layout

Part #1 L L M D G

A A
Receiving L M G G
Part #2
L M D Shipping
Part #3

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 30

 Product Requirements

 Standardized product
 High production volume
 Stable production quantities
 Uniform quality of raw materials & components

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 31

 Product-Oriented Layout - Assumptions

 Volume is adequate for high equipment utilization

 Product demand is stable enough to justify high investment
in specialized equipment
 Product is standardized or approaching a phase of its life
cycle that justifies investment in specialized equipment
 Supplies of raw materials and components are adequate
and of uniform quality ensure they will work with
specialized equipment

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 32

 Product-Oriented Layout Types
Assembly Line
• Assembles fabricated parts
• Uses workstation
• Repetitive process
• Paced by tasks
• Balanced by moving tasks

Fabrication Line
• Builds components
• Uses series of machines
• Repetitive process
• Machine paced
• Balanced by physical redesign

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 33

 Line Configuration

 The flow of products is continuous along a line.

 Linear pattern.

 “L” pattern.

 “U” shape.

 Snake shape.

 Shape determines workers flexibility.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 34

 Product Layout - Advantages

 Layout corresponds to the sequence of operations, smooth

and logical flow lines result
 Work from one process is fed directly into the next, small
in-process inventories result
 Total production time per unit is short
 Machines are located as to minimize distances between
consecutive operations, material handling is reduced
 Little skill is usually required by operators at the production
line; hence, training is simple, short and inexpensive
 Simple production planning and control systems are
possible
 Less space is occupied by work in transit and for temporary
storage
 Lower variable cost per unit

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 35

 Product Layout - Advantages

 Stable rate of output.

 Work-in-process inventory is low.
 Total production time/unit is reduced.
 Space is effectively utilized.
 Narrow aisles.

 Labor pool is large.

 Single skilled.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 36

 Product Layout - Limitations

 A breakdown of one machine may lead to complete stoppage of

the line that follows that machine
 Since the layout is determined by the product, a change in
product design may require major alterations in the layout
 The “pace” of production is determined by the slowest machine
 Supervision is general
 Comparatively high investment is required, as identical
machines (a few not fully utilized) are sometimes distributed
along the line
 Lack of flexibility

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 37

 Product Layout - Disadvantages

 If one machine fails the whole process stops.

 Changes in product design can render the layout obsolete.
 Bottlenecks govern the speed.
 Large support staff required.
 High fixed costs.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 38

 Product Layouts - Now & Then

 Traditional  New Focus

 Top priority: Line  Top priority: flexibility.
balancing.  Preventive maintenance
 Inventory buffers.  Shop supervisor designs
 Planned by admin. staff. and adjusts.
 “L” shaped lines.  “U” shaped lines.

 Conveyor movement.  Stations are close

together.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 39

 Designing Product Layouts

 Main Objective: Arrange workers and machines in a line

according to the operations that need to be performed.
 It isn’t always that simple.
 Line balancing.

 Line balancing software:

 COMSOAL - IBM

 ASYBL - GE

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 40

 Line Balancing

 Equalizes amount of work at each station.

 Constraints in Line Balancing.
 Precedence Requirements
 The order in which operations need to take place.
 Cycle Time
 Maximum time a product can be at a station.
 A guess and check process.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 41

 Fixed-Position Layouts

 The product remains stationary for the entire manufacturing

cycle.
 Equipment, workers, materials, and other resources are
brought to the production site.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 42

 Fixed-Position Layouts

When is it used?

Fixed-Position layouts are used in projects in which the product

cannot be moved.

It is typical of projects in which the product produced is:

 too fragile

 bulky

 heavy to move

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 43

 Fixed-Position Layouts

Characteristics of the process:

 Equipment  Cost breakdown for fixed-position layouts:

 Low equipment utilization:  Fixed Cost:
 relatively low (equipment may
 idle equipment at location
not be owned by the company)
 it will be needed again in a
few days
 Variable Cost
 High (due to high labor rates and
 Equipment is leased or the cost of leasing and moving
subcontracted equipment.
 it is used for limited periods
of time

 Workers
 Highly skilled at performing
special tasks
 High wage rates

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 44

 Fixed-Position Layout - Advantages

 Material movement is reduced

 Promotes job enlargement by allowing individuals or teams the
perform “whole job”
 Continuity of operations and responsibility results from team
 High flexibility; can accommodate changes in product design,
product mix, and production volume
 Independent of production centers allows scheduling to achieve
minimum total production time

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 45

 Fixed-Position Layout - Limitations

 Increased movement of personnel and equipment

 Equipment duplication may occur
 Higher skill requirements for personnel
 General supervision required
 Cumbersome and costly positioning of material and machinery
 Low equipment utilization

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 46

 Factors Complicating a Fixed Position Layout

 Limited space
 Coordinating service providers in sequence, on time, on
schedule, and with other activities occurring concurrently
 Volume of materials changes often

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 47

 Fixed Position Layout

Lathe Press Grind

Warehouse
Warehouse

Drill Paint Assembly

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 48

 Hybrid Layouts

 Flexible & Mixed-Model Manufacturing

 High level of complexity

 Mathematically intensive

 Cellular Manufacturing

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 49

 Cellular Manufacturing

“Cellular Manufacturing organizes the entire process for

similar products into a group of team members,
includes all the necessary equipment and is known as a
"Cell".

Merryman, Wes. Cellular Manufacturing

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 50

 Cellular Manufacturing

“…The cells are arranged to easily facilitate all

operations. Parts are handed off from operation to
operation eliminating setups and unnecessary
costs between operations.”

Merryman, Wes. Cellular Manufacturing

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 51

 Introduction to Cellular Manufacturing
• The cellular approach is to organize the entire manufacturing
process for particular or similar products into one group of team
members and machines known as a "Cell".
• These "cells" are arranged in a U-shaped layout to easily
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.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 52

 Introduction to Cellular Manufacturing

• Fast setup and quick changeovers are essential to Cellular

Manufacturing systems 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.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 53

 Warehouse Group Technology / Cellular Layout

Lathe Drill Grind Drill

Press
Assembly

Lathe Lathe Drill

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 54

 Work Cells - Advantages

 Increased machine utilization

 Team attitude and job enlargement tend to occur
 Compromise between product layout and process layout, with
associated advantages
 Supports the use of general purpose equipment
 Shorter travel distances and smoother flow lines than for
process layout

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 55

 Work Cells - Advantages

 Reduced work-in-process inventory

 Less floor space required
 Reduced raw material and finished goods inventories required
 Reduced direct labor costs
 Heightened sense of employee participation
 Increased utilization of equipment machinery
 Reduced investment in machinery and equipment

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 56

 Work Cells - Limitations

 General supervision is required

 Higher skill levels required of employees than for product layout
 Compromise between product and process layout, with
associated limitations
 Depends on balanced material flow through the cell; otherwise,
buffers and work-in-process storage are required
 Lower machine utilization than for process layout

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 57

 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.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 58

 Advanced Cellular 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 within 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.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 59

 Creating Cells
 First, define the “cells” by the following criteria:
 Processes required
 Part numbers and attributes
 Market segments / customers
 Degree of automation
 Good intuition
 Careful study
 Group Technology (GT)
 Production Flow Analysis (PFA)

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 60

 Creating Cells
 Team selection is crucial
 Identify important skills needed such as teamwork and
leadership skills
 Create a process map
 Develop a checklist for selecting members

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 61

 Part Family Formation

 Various levels – macro and micro

 Macro – entire factories (focused factories) can specialize in a
particular type of part
 Micro – families can be based on similarities in part geometry
(group shafts, flat parts, gears, etc…), process requirements
(castings, forgings, sheet metal parts, heat-treated parts,
printed circuit boards)
 How are these groupings determined?
 Coding

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 62

 Finding Part Families
 Visual Inspection of physical parts or photographs to identify similarities.
 Coding and Classification of parts by examining design and/or
manufacturing attributes.
 OPITZ System
 MICLASS System
 Here a code is assigned to specific features of the part.
 Is the part cylindrical or prismatic ?
 Does it have threads?
 Does it have through slots?
 Does it require heat treatment?
 This requires a large initial time investment in coding and classifying all
parts.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 63

 Finding Part Families

 Production Flow Analysis : Since the parts in a part family have

similar manufacturing processes, it is possible to identify similar
parts by studying the route sheets.
 Parts with similar routes can be grouped into families.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 64

 Production Flow Analysis

 PFA is a technique that uses Operation Routing Summaries

as input. It clusters the parts that require the same
processes. These parts can then be assembled into a part
family. The processes can be grouped into a cell to
minimize material handling requirements.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 66

 PFA - Organizational View

Production Flow Analysis consists of 5 different analyses:

1. Company Flow Analysis

2. Factory Flow Analysis
3. Group Analysis
4. Line Analysis
5. Tooling Analysis

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 67

 Company Flow Analysis

 A Planning technique used for the division of large

companies into factory components. It aims to simplify
the flow of materials between factories.

 Uses FROM-TO charts and frequency charts and a flow

analysis (similar to the one discussed in slides 29 – 41).

 Is not a decision making model, but presents data in a

way that decisions can be made based on a company’s
goal.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 68

 Factory Flow Analysis

 An attempt is made at this stage to find major groups of

departments, and major families of components which can
be completely processed in these departments.
 The Goal is to change factories from process organization to
product organization and to minimize interdepartmental
material flow

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 69

 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

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 70

 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

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 71

 Group Analysis

 Essentially, while forming and rearranging the PFA

matrix we were performing Group Analysis.
 Those same algorithms are also employed in PFA
activities other than Group Analysis (namely CFA, FFA
etc..)
 Choice of algorithm or technique that is best suited is,
for the most part, a problem specific issue

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 72

 Line Analysis

 A linear or U-layout is designed for the machines

assigned to each cell.
 The routings for each part assigned to the cell and the
frequency of use of each routing are used to develop a
cell for:
 Efficient transport

 Minimum material handling and travel by operators.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 73

 Tooling Analysis

 A Tooling Analysis helps to schedule the cell by identifying

families of parts with similar operation sequences, tooling
and setups.

 It seeks to sequence parts on each machine to sequence all

the machines in the cell to reduce setup times and batch
sizes.

 This increases available machine capacity on bottleneck

work canters in the cell.

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 74

 PFA: Assumptions

 Each component is equally important in terms of cost

 Lot size & its associated cost are not directly related to
grouping procedure
 Routing is assumed to be optimal

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 75

 PFA: Advantages

 Reduces flow distances

 Better suited to JIT and “pull” manufacturing as the overall
flow is much straighter
 Simple and Easy to implement
 Experience: Lots of Research and Background and support
software

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 76

 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

© 2004 Superfactory™. All Rights Reserved. 77