Cellular manufacturing: its impact on the total factory

This paper compares a factory structured as a traditional job shop with the same factory structured as a hybrid factory containing a cellular manufacturing unit. The comparison is based on job shop simulation using differing combinations of capacities, allocations of jobs between the cell and the rest of the factory and levels of productivity improvements achieved in the cell. Performance is evaluated in terms of flow times and delays for the cell, the non-cell remainder of the factory and for the normal functional factory. The simulation model was designed to eliminate possible confounding issues of machine reliability, operator skill, unique manufacturer specific part characteristics, factory layout and different scheduling techniques. The result is a systematic evaluation of cellular manufacturing, some general conclusions as to the particular circumstances that favour the use of cells and a set of implications for management practice.