Cellular manufacturing is an important concept in lean manufacturing. Cellular manufacturing is a term given to the concept of grouping machinery in a
cell. Often, within a facility, there are many cells of machinery
designed to enable one piece flow through the cell.
Cells reduce work in process in between machinery, lower lead
times to customers, cut waste, and add flexibility. Cells
often enable companies to utilize more machinery of less cost
and lower cycle times to add flexibility and reduce cost.
The ideal cell is basically a pull system where one piece
is “pulled” by each machine as it needs it for
manufacturing.
This same system can work in a non manufacturing or light
assembly operation. For example, in a packing and distribution
operation, batch processing, which is non lean manufacturing,
would require boxing and packaging many units at a time. The
subsequent operation of labeling might be done after a hundred
units were packaged. A cell would have one unit pulled through
the cell at a time, from production at each machine and packaged
at the end of the cell.
The benefits are many. When a defect occurs, only one product
is defective and it is immediately caught. This reduces scrap.
Also, lead times are shorter. For example, if a customer wanted
25 units and the company batched in groups of two hundred,
the customer would have to wait until all two hundred had
been produced and all steps of packaging completed. The cellular
manufacturing concept would be able to ship the product as
soon as the 25th unit was packaged.
Cellular manufacturing was developed years ago before lean
manufacturing became a best practice. The concept has been
in use in many industries. One very common use of cells is
in the fabricating industry where welding, cutting, stamping,
and forming is performed. Prior to using cells, stacks of
steel were processed at each station and moved to the next
station. Cellular manufacturing moves product one at a time
through the cell until it complete. Stacking and restacking
is eliminated and waste from defects is reduced.
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Cellular Manufacturing