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Cellular Manufacturing - A Primer Cellular
manufacturing, also known as work cells, flexible
manufacturing cells Cellular
manufacturing consists of a series of
product-focused work groups -- cells -- which
house all operations to manufacture a family of
products. The cell is dedicated to manufacturing
those products requiring similar operations. While
a traditional manufacturing environment is
organized functionally with similar machines in one
area (for example, all molding machines in the
Molding Dept.), cellular Machines in manufacturing cells are located within close proximity to minimize product transportation (a form of manufacturing waste) and to maintain continuous flow with zero inventory between operations. The manufacturing cell is operated by a team of empowered, multiskilled operators who have complete responsibility for quality and delivery performance within the cell. Guidelines for Successful Cell Implementation 1. Make a business case for cellular manufacturing. Many cellular efforts falter at this first critical step. It is important to ask why you are implementing cellular manufacturing. Is it in response to a competitive threat? Are you losing market share to competitors with better delivery performance? Are your customers demanding shorter lead times than your current operation can deliver? Are they complaining about missed or late shipments, poor quality or high costs? These are legitimate reasons to considering cellular manufacturing. The fact that someone read about it in the business press or attended an interesting seminar is NOT a valid reason, and will likely lead to failure. 2. Start with a success. There are two considerations here. First, identify products (or product families) where productivity, quality or delivery improvements are highly visible and can make a big difference to the organization. To identify product families, focus on the common set of operations needed to manufacture the products in the cell. If an important customer is complaining about late deliveries on a specific product line, it might make sense to create a cell around these products. Second, consider a pilot cell in an area where workers are enthused and excited about participating in new methods. Worker attitudes can make or break a cell implementation. Start with the right people and success will be contagious throughout the rest of the organization. 3. Create the cell. Locate all resources, machines and equipment that will be used by the cell in a dedicated area in the plant. In some cases, it will be impossible or impractical to relocate large, centralized processes, so alternative arrangements must be made. To the extent possible, the cell should be self-contained, meaning that all the operations required to manufacture the cell's products should be located together. Minimize the cell's dependence on resources or operations external to the cell. Again, the key is to focus on the common set of operations needed to manufacture the products in the cell. 4. Cross-train workers in each of the cell's operations. One of the hallmarks of cellular manufacturing is multiskilled operators who can move freely as needed between work centers within a cell. Providing training on manufacturing concepts like lean manufacturing, lead times, process flow, set-up time reduction, total productive maintenance (TPM) and problem-solving/continuous improvement methodologies will go a long way toward building a high-performance manufacturing cell. 5. Fine-tune the cell's performance. Gradually reduce batch/lot sizes and set-up/changeover times, while involving cell members in improving quality and productivity. Institute a formalized continuous improvement or kaizen system to make consistent improvements in cell cost, quality and delivery. Cellular manufacturing, when properly implemented, can result in huge performance gains for your operation. Lead time reductions of 50-80%, quality improvements of 25-50% and product cost reductions of 10-30% are not uncommon. To see if cellular manufacturing is right for your organization, or for assistance with implementation on the shop floor, give us a call today. We'll work with your management and operations teams to restructure your operation for success. |
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(FMCs)
or simply cells, represents an alternative
organizational structure that seeks to reduce
manufacturing 
manufacturing
operates like a series of plants-within-a-plant,
each starting with raw materials and ending with
finished product, with all operations being
performed in the cell.