1. Design of operations
Flow, Layout and GT

2. Recap: Volume and Variety
Meredith J, Management of Operations, Wiley 1992

3. Recap: Volume and Variety
Fixed Position – Shipyard / Construction
Products move around different routes
Cells allow better flow
Product flows through

4. Job / Batch Manufacture – Process Layout
Complex to control
Flexible
Inefficient
Johnson, Chambers, Harland, Harrison, Slack
Cases in Operations Management, Pitman 1993

5. Product Layout – Flow line
Simple to control
Inflexible
Efficient
Johnson, Chambers, Harland, Harrison, Slack
Cases in Operations Management, Pitman 1993

6. Cellular Manufacture – Product Family Layout
Johnson, Chambers, Harland, Harrison, Slack
Cases in Operations Management, Pitman 1993
U-shape flow
Varied flow

7. Process- and Product-focussed machine shops (work shops)

8. Process focussed machine shop
- traditional approach from early mills and factories with common power source.

9. Cotton Mill

10. Process focussed machine shop
Similar machines such as lathes, mills, drills or borers are grouped together.
each group performs one or a limited range of processes.
Group shares common facilities and tooling.
Parts must be routed between the process areas.
"jumbled" material flows and unclear responsibility centres.

11. Eaton’s Factory, Canada, 1901

13. Process focussed machine shop
Simple to design
Difficult to operate
Complex central production control systems tend to be used to manage the activities to manufacture parts.

14. Burbidge J L, Partridge J T and Aitchison K, 1991

15. Batch manufacturing Mill Functional Layout Drill Turn Plan batch Var
Vol
Batch manufacturing
Plan batch
Mill
Functional Layout
Drill
Turn
Deliver and invoice

17. Product focussed machine shop
Each machine group is focussed on a range of products
Easy to operate but difficult to plan
Dissimilar machines are grouped together
Group used to manufacture completely a distinct range of parts
Parts enter a group of machines as raw material and leave as finished parts

18. Ford Motor Company 1913

19. Product focussed machine shop
Each group requires the facilities to perform all the processes needed to produce the parts
Material flows much simpler
Simplifies requirements for scheduling, responsibility for quality and expediting
Provides clearly defined responsibility centres

20. Ford Final Assembly Line 1913

21. Deliver and collect payment
Ford’s Flow line
Var
Vol
Plan / build chassis
Add fuel tank
Add wheels
Product Flow layout
Add bodywork
Deliver and collect payment

22. iPhone Assembly Line 2012

23. GROUP TECHNOLOGY

24. Group Technology
Burbidge identified group technology as a technique of product focussed organisation and describes its introduction as:
" ... a change from an organisation based mainly on process, to an organisation based on completed products, components and major completed tasks.“
Group technology is an organisational technique. Its features are cells and teams together with their ownership of part families.

25. Cells
A cell consists of the people, machines and facilities needed to provide the skills and processes required to take a range of parts completely through one or more major stages such as raw materials (forging, casting or saws), part production (machining or welding) or assembly.
The resources of each cell should be independent from all other cells. This means that each cell must not share people, machines or facilities with any other cell.

26. Division into groups
The full range of parts is divided into a number of ranges or families, in such a way that
each part family can be produced completely from raw material by the team of people, machines and facilities of one cell.
These parts will share a number of similar attributes which require similar manufacturing activities. E.g.
shape
size
material
functional type

27. Meredith J, 1992, The Management of Operations (4th Ed)

28. Division into groups each cell is independent from all other cells
each part may be processed by only one cell in any major stage.
serial material flow between major stages
parallel material flow within major stages

29. Gears
Saws (bar stock)
Shafts
Gear shafts
Saws (tube)
Rings
Gearboxes
Casting
Housings

30. Process organisation / Functional Layout
High flexibility
Expertise develops on Process not Product
Can do a wide variety of things
Can do nothing quickly
Need to manage flow
Low utilisation

31. Product Flow line No setting time within product range
High utilisation – efficiency
Low inventory
High repetition allows quality to be managed (SPC)
Easy to manage (if not to design)
Limited variety possible
Repetitive work
Prone to disruption

32. Product organisation – GT Cells
Cells like mini flow-lines - Flow is easy
Little setting time for increased efficiency
Low Lead time and Inventory
Good quality through reduced variation
Learning related to products not processes
A challenge to design

34. Plan appointment, get there
The hairdresser’s
Var
Vol
Plan appointment, get there
Wash
Cut
Functional Layout
Blow dry
Payment & Exit

35. Cadbury’s Chocolate Flow line
Var
Vol
Plan
Prep liquid choc
Mould and cool
Product Flow layout
Wrap and pack
Store and deliver

36. Cadbury’s visitor centre
Var
Vol
Admit and issue tickets
View display section
View Chocolate Packing plant
(Product) Flow layout
View Choc Demo
View exhibits and exit

37. Fun fair ? Functional Layout Exit Buy from stalls Var Vol
Admission and payment ?
Buy from stalls
Ride Helter Skelter
Functional Layout
Ride Roller-Coaster
Exit

38. Summary – operations design
Starts with planning / ordering, (payment?)
Ends with delivery, (payment?)
Get resource / get to resource
Do activity
Clear away
High volume – look for flow efficiency
High Variety – look for flexibility

39. Reading Burbidge J L, 1971, Production Planning, Heinemann, London
Burbidge J L, 1975, The Introduction of Group Technology, Heinemann, London
Burbidge J L, 1979, Group Technology in the Engineering Industry, Heinemann, London
Burbidge J L, Partridge J T and Aitchison K, 1991, Planning group technology for Davy Morris using production flow analysis, Production Planning & Control, Vol. 2 No. 1
Childe S J, 1997, Introduction to Computer Aided Production Management, Chapman & Hall
Hyer N L and Wemmerlov U 1984, Group Technology and Productivity, Harvard Business Review, Jul-Aug pp
Ranson G M, 1972, Group Technology, McGraw Hill
Slack N, Brandon-Jones A, Johnston R, 2013, Operations Management, 7th Ed. Pearson
Wemmerlov U and Hyer N L, 1987, Research issues in cellular manufacturing, International Journal of Production Research, Vol.25 No.3 pp