CELLULAR LAYOUT

ORIGIN/INTRODUCTION OF CELLULAR LAYOUT

FLOW IN A U-CELL

• EQUIPMENT AND WORKSTATIONS USED TO PRODUCE ARE ARRANGED TO FACILITATE

• CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION FLOW IN SMALL LOTS.

Input

Station/Processing

OutputExample of Cellular Layout

CELLULAR LAYOUT

• EVERY CELL CONTAINS A GROUP OF MACHINES WHICH ARE DEDICATED TO

THE PRODUCTION OF A FAMILY OF PARTS.

• ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IS TO IDENTIFY A FAMILY PARTS THAT REQUIRE THE

SAME GROUP OF MACHINES.

• THESE LAYOUTS ARE ALSO CALLED AS GROUP TECHNOLOGY LAYOUTS.

CELLULAR LAYOUT

• USED TO MAKE PARTS IN JUST-IN-TIME MANUFACTURING• BASED ON GROUP TECHNOLOGY• GROUP TECHNOLOGY (GT): A METHOD OF ORGANIZING PARTS INTO

FAMILIES WITH SIMILAR MANUFACTURING REQUIREMENTS• A MANUFACTURING CELL IS CREATED FOR EACH PART FAMILY

EXAMPLE OF GROUP TECHNOLOGY

PROCESS FLOW BEFORE THE GROUP TECHNOLOGY

PROCESS FLOW AFTER THE GROUP TECHNOLOGY

TRADITIONAL BATCH PROCESSING

ONE PIECE FLOW• HANDLING ITEMS ONE AT A TIME ELIMINATES WASTES INHERENT IN BATCH

PRODUCTION

• AND ENABLES A BALANCED FLOW OF WORK.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CELLS LAYOUT

• IDENTIFICATION OF FAMILIES PRODUCTS

• A HIGH LEVEL OF TRAINING, FLEXIBILITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF EMPLOYEES

• BEING SELF-CONTAINED, WITH ITS OWN EQUIPMENT & RESOURCES

IMPROVING LAYOUTS USING WORK CELLS

IMPROVING LAYOUT USING WORK CELLS

EXAMPLE OF CELLULAR LAYOUT

CONTINUE

• THE PREVIOUS SLIDE SHOWS A FACILITY IN WHICH THREE PARTS A, B, C FLOW

THROUGH THE MACHINES.

• SOME OTHER PARTS D,E,F,G & H ARE ALSO INCLUDED IN THE NEXT SLIDES.

• THE ROWS CORRESPOND TO THE PARTS AND COLUMNS TO THE MACHINES.

• JUST BY INTERCHANGING ROWS AND COLUMNS, EVENTUALLY A MATRIX IS

OBTAINED WHERE THE “X” MARKS ARE ALL CONCENTRATED NEAR THE

DIAGONAL. THIS MATRIX PROVIDES THE CELLS. FOR EXAMPLE, PARTS A, D AND

F REQUIRE MACHINES 1, 2, 4, 8 AND 10 WHICH FORMS A CELL.

EXAMPLE TABLE

Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12A x x x x xB x x x xC x x xD x x x x xE x x xF x x xG x x x xH x x x

Machines

CELLULAR LAYOUT OF THE EXAMPLE

Parts 1 2 4 8 10 3 6 9 5 7 11 12A x x x x xD x x x x xF x x xC x x xG x x x xB x x x xE x x xH x x x

Machines

FINAL VIEW AFTER CELLULAR LAYOUT

EACH OF A, B, C NOW VISITS ONLY ONE AREA, MINIMIZING JUMPING

12

12 3

4

5

6

7

8 910

11

A BCRaw materials

Cell1 Cell 2 Cell 3

Assembly

OBJECTIVE OF CELLULAR LAYOUT

TIMWOOD• ELIMINATION OF WASTE (MUDA)

Transportation

Inventory

Movement

Waiting

Over Processing

Over Production

Defects

CELLULAR LAYOUT ADVANTAGES

• REDUCED MATERIAL HANDLING AND TRANSIT TIME

• REDUCED SETUP TIME

• REDUCED WORK-IN-PROCESS INVENTORY

• BETTER USE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

• BETTER SCHEDULING, EASIER TO CONTROL AND AUTOMATE

• LESS FLOOR SPACE REQUIRED

• REDUCED DIRECT LABOR

• HEIGHTENED SENSE OF EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION

• INCREASED USE OF EQUIPMENT & MACHINERY

• REDUCED INVESTMENT ON MACHINERY & EQUIPMENT

CELLULAR LAYOUT DISADVANTAGES

• 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