GROUPTECHNOLOGYAND CELLULAR MANUFACTURING

A State-of-the-Art Synthesis of Research and Practice

GROUPTECHNOLOGYAND CELLULAR MANUFACTURING

A State-of-the-Art Syuthesis of Research aud Practice

Editors

Nallan C. Suresh School of Management,

State University of New York Buffalo, NY, USA

and

John M. Kay School of Industrial and Manufacturing Sciences

Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, UK

~.

" Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A c.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4613-7497-8 ISBN 978-1-4615-5467-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-5467-7

Copyright © 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1998 Ali rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photo­copying, record ing, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Printed an acid-free pa per.

Preface

Dedication

CONTENTS

Editorial Advisory Board

A. INTRODUCTION A. Group Technology and Cellular Manufacturing:

Updated Perspectives: Nallan C. Suresh and John M Kay

B. PRODUCT DESIGN B 1. Group Technology, Concurrent Engineering and Design for

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xiii

xv

Manufacture and Assembly: Winston A. Knight 15 B2. Classification & Coding Systems: Industry Implementation

and Non-Traditional Applications: Charles T. Mosier 37 B3. Part Family Identification: The Role of Engineering Data

Bases: Richard E. Billo and Bopaya Bidanda 58 B4. Part Family Formation and Classification Using Machine

Learning Techniques: Young B. Moon 77

C. PROCESS PLANNING Cl. GT and CAPP: Towards An Integration of Variant and

Generative Approaches: Dusan N. Sormaz 93 C2. GT and CAPP: Observations on Past, Present and Future:

James Nolen and Carey Lyman-Cordes 112

D. DESIGN OF CELLULAR LAYOUTS: PART -MACHINE-LABOR GROUPING

Dl. Part-Machine-Labor Grouping: The Problem and Solution Methods: Scott M Shafer 131

D2. Design of Manufacturing Cells: PFA Applications in Dutch Industry: Jannes Slomp 153

D3. Artificial Neural Networks and Fuzzy Models: New Tools for Part-Machine Grouping: V. Venugopal 169

D4. Cell Formation Using Genetic Algorithms: Jeffrey A. Joines, Russell E. King, C. Thomas Culbreth 185

D5. A Bi-chromosome GA for Minimizing Intercell and Intracell Moves: Chun H Cheng, Wai. HLee and John Miltenburg 205

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E. DESIGN OF CELLULAR LAYOUTS: USE OF ANALYTICAL AND SIMULATION MODELS

EI. Design / Analysis of Manufacturing Systems: A Business Process Approach: N Viswanadham, Y. Narahari and NR. S. Raghavan 221

E2. Cellular Manufacturing Feasibility at Ingersoll Cutting Tool Company: Danny J. Johnson and Urban Wemmerlov 239

E3. A Decision Support System For Designing Assembly Cells in Apparel Industry: Mohamad Kalta, Tim Lowe and David Tyler 255

E4. Evaluation of Functional and Cellular Layouts Through Simulation and Analytical Models: Nallan C. Suresh 273

F. OPERATIONS PLANNING AND CONTROL FI. Production Planning and Control Systems for

Cellular Manufacturing: Jan Riezebos, Girish Shambu and Nallan Suresh 289

F2. Period Batch Control Systems for Cellular Manufacturing: Daniel C. Steele 309

F3. Scheduling Rules for Cellular Manufacturing: Farzad Mahmoodi and Charles T. Mosier 321

F4. Operation and Control of Cellular Systems at Avon Lomalinda, Puerto Rico: Gursel A. Suer 339

F5. Classification and Analysis of Operating Policies for Manufacturing Cells: Ronald G. Askin and Anand Iyer 362

G. CELLS AND FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION

G. Cells & Flexible Automation: A History and Synergistic Application: Kathryn E. Stecke and Rodney P. Parker 381

H. HUMAN FACTORS IN CELLULAR MANUFACTURING HI. Human Resource Management and Cellular Manufacturing:

Richard Badham, Ian P. McLoughlin and David Buchanan 401 H2. Teams and Cellular Manufacturing: The Role of the

Team Leader: Peter D. Carr and Gwyn Groves 423

I. INTEGRATED IMPLEMENTATION EXPERIENCES 11. Group Technology-Based Improvements in Danish

Industry: Jens 0. Riis and Hans Mikkelson 441 12. Benefits from PF A in Two Make-To-Order

Manufacturing Firms in Finland: Sauli Karvonen, Jan Holmstrom & Eero Eloranta 458

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13. Cellular Manufacturing at Zanussi-Electrolux Plant, Susegana, Italy: Roberto Panizzolo 475

14. Microsoft Ireland: Realigning Plant, Sales, Key Suppliers By Customer Family: Richard J Schonberger 491

15. Group Technology at John Deere: Production Planning and Control Issues: Michael S. Spencer 501

16. Design / Reengineeing of Production Systems: Yugoslavian (lISE) Approaches: D. Zelenovic, 1 Cosicand R. Maksimovic 517

Appendix. Bibliography: The Works of John L. Burbidge 537

Index 545

PREFACE

As early as 1924, Flanders clearly articulated many of the problems encountered in batch production, and proposed a solution that would now be referred to as cellular manufacturing (Nimmons 1996). But it was essentially the 1960s before these concepts were formalized by Mitrofanov's Scientific Principles of Group Technology (1966) and numerous publications by John (Jack) Leonard Burbidge.

It is now three decades since these early pioneers of group technology (GT) first described their ideas. Group technology ideas have come a long way since then. Despite a relative diminution of interest during 1970s, there has been a revival, particularly in USA, with the advent of Japanese, just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing philosophies, flexible manufacturing technologies, computer-integrated manufacturing and several production planning and control philosophies. Group technology has come to be regarded as a prerequisite, and an integrative philosophy for computer integrated manufacturing (ClM) and as a core element of several manufacturing paradigms.

GT/CM has been a widely researched area during the last 15 years, judging by the number of articles published in various research journals. Much progress has been made in all branches of this broad-based philosophy, thanks to the efforts of numerous researchers and practitioners. There has been a proliferation of techniques for part-machine grouping, engineering data bases, expert system-based design methods and computer aided process planning techniques, new pattern recognition methods for identifying part families, new analytical and simulation tools for design and evaluation of cells, new types of cells incorporating robotics and flexible automation, team-based approaches for organizing the workforce, etc.

Compiling specially-commissioned, state-of-the-art articles from leading researchers and implementers, this book essentially attempts to address the needs of, and bring together, three groups of individuals: academic researchers, industry practitioners and students.

This book is also motivated by a desire to pay tribute to Professor Jack Burbidge, who has made seminal contributions to this knowledge domain. A bibliography of his works may be found in Appendix A of this book. Professor Burbidge unarguably belongs to the earliest group of production management experts who championed the adoption of part-family-based manufacturing systems.

From the standpoint of academics, several observations may be made. First, it may be unequivocally stated that GT/CM is an area of topical and lively interest among researchers in production/operations management, industrial engineering and manufacturing systems engineering. This is evident from the number of papers devoted to GT/CM topics in journals such as International Journal of Production Research (IJPR). Journal of Operations Management (JOM), European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), Decision Sciences and lIE Transactions. Several of these journals have brought out special issues devoted to this topic in recent years.

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From a researcher's standpoint, the desirability of a book that provides an up-to-date perspective, incorporating the advances made in various sub-topics of GT/CM during the last 15 years, is very clear. A clear need also exists for synthesizing the latest industry practices, and industry inputs to guide research towards greater real-world relevance. It would clearly be beneficial for researchers to gain a sense of practical applications, so as not to lose sight of industry reality. This would, of course, be in line with the sentiments of Jack Burbidge, who always insisted that one must try out new ideas in real factories, and with real data.

Research results in the GT/CM area have tended to be scattered in a wide range of journals: Industrial engineers seem to prefer journals like lIE Transactions; production/operations management researchers seem to prefer IJPR, JOM, Management Science, Decision Sciences; and production engineers publish their fmdings in CIRP Anna/s,ICPR Proceedings and other avenues. It would be useful to bring the essence of recent research findings into one venue; it might encourage researchers belonging to different disciplines to access additional sources that they might otherwise ignore.

There have also been some national divides in this field: researchers from USA have tended to ignore research that has emanated from Europe (in a different terminology), for instance, and have occasionally "reinvented the wheel" (which runs counter to GT philosophy itself). Thus, it would be beneficial, as this book strives to do, to bring researchers and practitioners, from several countries, together.

From the standpoint of industry practitioners, it may again be stated that GT/CM concepts are of topical interest and relevance, in the current context of efforts to reengineer manufacturing and service processes through many different approaches. Numerous firms in industry (manufacturing & service industries) are currently in the process of streamlining their operations via just-in-time (HT) production systems, total quality management (TQM), computer integrated manufacturing (CIM), business process reengineering (BPR), concurrent engineering, total systems engineering, etc. As made clear in this book, the ideas behind cellular manufacturing are strongly related to, or form core elements of, these new developments which are aimed at reducing developmental and manufacturing lead times, costs, and improving quality and delivery performance.

From a practitioner's point of view, it would be useful to provide descriptions of state-of-the-art applications in leading-edge firms, that would be worthy of emulation (or benchmarking, in contemporary parlance). This book also attempts to present a summary of research results in a user-friendly manner, so that practitioners may take advantage of research results more fully.

The utility of such a text book for students of engineering and management should also be evident.

Thus, the basic objective of the book has been to compile a set of specially­commissioned, state-of-the-art papers by leading researchers and implementers, drawn from many countries, and in various topic areas of GT/CM. Essentially three

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types of articles have been compiled: theory (research) articles, application articles, and combined theory & application articles.

The theory articles, authored by leading researchers, have sought to provide an in-depth summary of the state-of-the-art in research, indicating high pay-off areas for future research, to be of benefit to research community world-wide. They also attempt to provide taxonomies, updated bibliographies, and a summary of prior results, to benefit researchers, engineering and business students, and industry practitioners. There has also been an attempt to focus on research of real-world relevance, in keeping with the sentiments of Professor Burbidge.

The application articles, authored by leading implementers from several nations, have attempted to provide a state-of-the-art summary of applications, in a wide variety of industry and national contexts. They were requested to provide insights on special problems encountered in practice, to comment on the applicability of various research techniques, and to include anecdotal information that may supplement the formal knowledge base in the field. Application articles have also, where possible, attempted to document implementation sequence, economic justification, costs and benefits, and the system's impact on company performance.

The editors have many individuals to thank for the successful completion of this project: members of the Editorial Advisory Board; all the Authors for submitting state-of-the-art, high-quality manuscripts; Mr. Gary Folven and Ms. Carolyn Ford at Kluwer; Deans Howard Foster, Rick Winter and John Thomas, and Professors John Boot, Carl Pegels, Stanley Zionts and Winston Lin of State University of New York, for their support and encouragement; and, Ms. Valerie Limpert and Ms. Trish Wisner at SUNY, Buffalo for their able support.

The editors express special thanks to Cranfield secretaries Lynne Allgood and Linda Nicholls who not only helped with this book, but for many years helped Jack produce his numerous publications; and, Samantha Johnson who maintains the collection of all Jack's publications safe and sound in the Cranfield University Library.

The editors also express their appreciation to Mr. Sung June Park, doctoral candidate at SUNY, Buffalo and Dr. Girish Shambu of Canisius College, Buffalo, for valuable assistance with editorial work. And last, but not the least, the editors thank their wives, Radhika and Gwyn, and family and friends for their support and patience during the development of this book.

Nallan C. Suresh, SUNY, Buffalo. NY, USA John M Kay, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK.

DEDICATION

John Leonard Burbidge (Jack to all who knew him) was born on the 15 th January 1915 in Canada. He spent his early years in New York State, USA but was sent to school in England. He started to study Mechanical Engineering at Cambridge but his family members were hit hard by the depression in the USA where they still lived. Undeterred, Jack sought employment and in 1934, after a short period as a door-to-door salesman, he became apprenticed to the Bristol Aeroplane Company. We owe that company a great thank-you for introducing him to the complexities of production. He was to spend the next 60 years telling all of us how we could do it better. As part of the war effort, he moved to the Ministry of Supply and was involved with the wartime manufacture of Spitfires, perhaps the world's first Just­In-Time project.

After the war he returned to industry, serving variously as Chief Planner, Sales Manager, Works Director and Managing Director in such companies as the Bristol Aeroplane Company, R A Lister, David Brown. Such wide practical experience laid the foundation for his next career in 1962 when he became a Production Expert with the International Labour Organisation, serving for five years on assignments in Poland, Cyprus and Egypt before becoming Professor, in 1967, at the International Training Centre run by the ILO in Turin. He remained in Turin until his retirement from the ILO in 1976.

His so called retirement was short and he quickly became a Visiting Professor at Cranfield. There he continued to teach new generations of production (he refused to use the word manufacturing!) engineers ensuring that his fundamental principles of material flow will persist. He was known to the students as "The Professor" despite Cranfield having many personnel with that title. His questioning of students was legendary, especially any who dared to suggest that MRP might be useful. He gained the respect of all his students and fellow academics. Even when in his last year at Cranfield, aged 79, he taught and worked with his students with great dedication and energy and delivered lectures in Israel, Ireland, Poland and Yugoslavia.

It was however Jack's drive to publish his ideas that led to him becoming known as the Father of Group Technology. He wrote 15 books and published over 150 papers. This is an amazing volume of work especially when you realise that his first publication came out when he was 43 years old! He attended conferences all over the world and was inevitably surrounded by admirers wishing to discuss his ideas. His papers were invariably accepted (even if twice the maximum length!).

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When he delivered a paper, it was with the passion of a preacher. He was always trying to convert the unbelievers to his Group Technology religion. His faith was very strong - he knew that GT worked.

His philosophy was to simplify the material flow - which is easier to say than to achieve - but he developed his Production Flow Analysis over many years of trial and error working with industry. Watching him work with an enormous part-machine matrix on a large sheet of paper was an education. (His IT decisions were when to sharpen his pencil.) He could spot groupings in an instant and his depth of knowledge of production processes made dealing with exceptions much easier. Although the current computer based grouping algorithms are much faster, they can easily by-pass the "practical" solution. He always insisted on working with the engineers from a company and not just producing a solution in isolation. He claimed that PF A would find the grouping of parts and machines unlike coding and classification methods that only group the parts. Once a group is correctly formed (and Jack would never allow any cross-flow!), it is like a mini-factory. It has all the necessary facilities and skills to complete a range of parts. These groups are the building blocks that allowed Just-In-Time principles to be developed.

When he first started publishing his message fell on deaf ears in the UK (with the exception of Ferranti, Edinburgh) but was listened to with great interest by Japanese manufacturers. They realised the potential and used Jack's published work to adopt the ideas and develop them into the concepts we now know as JIT. Their success has led to a revival of interest in Europe and North America. The 'groups' were now known as 'cells' but only in one of his last publications did Jack accept the use of this word. "Nobody wanted to work in cells - they were for criminals". He did surprisingly allow cells to be defined as synonymous with groups in his IFIP book on "Glossary of terms used in production control". Whether we call them groups or cells, they are the foundation of modem manufacturing and Jack's ideas, writings, lectures and presentations have been a major factor in their development.

He was honoured by the Universities of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia and Strathclyde, UK, was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 1991 for Services to Industry.

He gives credit in his publications to Mitrofanov, Gigli, Patrigani, Sidders and Edwards for his inspiration but his mission in life to educate and inspire the manufacturing world with his ideals have left a legacy that we will remember and cherish for generations to come.

He was an excellent colleague at Cranfield and he is missed by his friends all over the world. We are honoured to dedicate this book to Jack Burbidge, the "Professor" and "Father of Group Technology".

John M Kay, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK Nallan C. Suresh, SUNY, Buffalo, USA

Editorial Advisory Board

Professor Leo Alting Technical University of Denmark Lyngby, Denmark

Professor Ronald G. Askin University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

Professor J. T. Black Auburn University Montgomery, AL, USA

Professor Jim Browne University College Galway Galway, Ireland

Professor Allan S. Carrie University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Dr. Chun Hung Cheng Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin N.T., Hong Kong

Professor Ezey Dar-EI Technion, Israel Inst. of Technology Haifa, Israel

Professor Eero Eloranta Helsinki University of Technology Espoo, Finland

Professor F. Robert Jacobs Indiana University Bloomington, IN , USA

Professor Winston A. Knight University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI, USA

Professor J. Miltenburg McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Professor Yasuhiro Monden University of Tsukuba Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Mr. James Nolen James Nolen & Company Coventry, RI, USA

Professor Jens O. Riis Aalborg University Aalborg, Denmark

Dr. Richard J. Schonberger Schonberger Associates, Inc. Seattle, W A, USA

Professor Kathryn E. Stecke The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Professor Mario T. Tabucanon Asian Institute of Technology Pathumthani, Thailand

Professor Urban WemmerlOv University of Wisconsin Madison, WI, USA

Professor Jacob Wijngaard University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands

Professor Dragutin M. Zelenovic University of No vi Sad Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

GROUP TECHNOLOGY AND CELLULAR MANUFACTURING

A State-of-the-Art Synthesis of Research and Practice