6Creative Rethinking for Cellular Manufacturing
THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT CONCERN in moving toward implementation of cells, namely, how to incorporate processes such as heat treatment, sand blasting, and plating in a cell when typically these processes are done in one large facility shared by the whole plant. A similar concern is voiced regarding operations that are subcontracted outside the company. These issues can become insurmountable obstacles to implementation. Or, if they are not properly resolved at the outset they can be stumbling blocks after implementing a cell, as illustrated in the previous chapter with the case of the cell failure caused by the heat treatment operation.
In this chapter I’ll deal with this issue of outside operations ...
