Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

GROUP TECHNOLOGY (CELL) LAYOUTS

Group technology (GT)

Brings the efficiencies of a product layout to a process layout.

Hybrid layouts combine characteristics of both process and product layouts. They are created whenever possible in order to combine the strengths of each type of layout. One of the most popular types of hybrid layouts is group technology (GT) or cell layouts. Group technology has the advantage of bringing the efficiencies of a product layout to a process layout environment.

If we look at a company that produces many different products, we may find that some products are similar to each other in the way they are made and the resources they require. For example, a company may produce 500 different products. However, if we analyze how each of the products is manufactured, we may be able to create groups of products—say, one group of 150, another group of 100, and so on—that are very similar in the way they are produced. To be efficient, we could place all the resources needed for each group in a separate area, called a cell. The production of a group, or family, of items would be done very efficiently because all the resources required would be in close proximity. This is the goal of group technology.

Group technology is the process of creating groupings of products based on similar processing requirements. For example, Figure 10-8 shows parts that all belong to the ...