National Institute of Technology Calicut Department of Mechanical Engineering

GROUP TECHNOLOGY (GT)

Chronology of Development of GT
• 1925 – R E Flanders (in US) – presented a paper before ASME – a product oriented
departments to manufacture standardized products with minimal transportation at a
machine company that would today called GT
• 1937 – A P Sokolovski (Soviet Union) – Parts be classified and parts with similar
features be manufactured together
• 1949 – A Korling (Sweden) – presented a paper in Paris on ‘group production’ that
describe the adaptation of production line technique to batch production
• 1959 – S P Mitrofonov (Soviet Union) published a book entitled Scientific Principles
of Group Technology – resulted in applying this concept in 800 plants in Soviet
Union
• 1960 – J L Burbidge (UK) developed a systematic planning approach for GT called
production flow analysis.

General Features of GT:

• GT is based on the principle that similar things should be done similarly
• GT is a philosophy with central objective of increasing production efficiency by
grouping various parts and products with similar and/or production processes together
• GT has application in many areas related with manufacturing such as product design,
process planning, fabrication, assembly, and production control
• GT does not seek to reduce variety in the kinds of products offered to customers
• GT seeks to reduce variety in the kinds of products produced by the manufacturer

GT in views of different people of a manufacturing organization

• Manufacturing engineer can view GT as an attempt to obtain the advantages of flow
line system in an environment previously ruled by job shop procedures
 New part can be designed to be compatible with the process and tooling of an
existing part family
 Standard process plans and tooling
 Standard tooling quickens part changeovers – short cycle time, just-in-time
production
• Design engineer can view GT as an attempt to standardize products and process plans
 Items with similar geometric features should have similar designs

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 Design of new part is initiated by retrieving the design for a similar, existing
part and modified as necessary for the new part – sometime eliminate the need
for new part
 For the new part, the new plan can be developed more quickly by relying on
decisions and documentations previously made for similar parts
 Resulting plan will match current manufacturing procedures

GT application in manufacturing leads to Focused factories and Cellular

Manufacturing

• Focused Factory strives for a narrow range of products, customers and processes. The
result is a factory that is smaller, simpler and totally focused on one or two Key
Manufacturing Tasks.
• Focused factory is also called a plant within a plant
• Each focused factory is a portion of a plant devoted to making a group of several or
numerous somewhat-similar products
• The Key Manufacturing Task provides the focus in Focused Factories.
• Cellular manufacturing system focuses on a group of parts (part family)
• Cellular Manufacturing relates to the organization of the manufacturing facility on the
basis of dedicated cells of dissimilar machines, which process similar parts, called
part families
• This kind of facility layout is called GT layout or Cellular layout or Group layout
• This configuration is most appropriate for medium variety, medium-volume
environment
• With GT, each part type flows only through its specific group area
A study shows that by applying GT, 150 similar parts were placed into a group of
8 dedicated machines
Previously, the same parts had been made on 51 different machines with 87
routing
Types of Group Layout
• GT flow line: All parts assigned to the group follow the same machine sequence and
requires relatively proportional time requirement on each machine
• GT cell: Allows parts to move from any machine to any other machine
• GT Centre: It is a logical arrangement. Machines may be located as in a process
layout by using functional departments, but each machine is dedicated to producing
only certain part families – Virtual Manufacturing Cell

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Part family 1

Part family 2

(a) GT Flow Line

Part family 2 Part family 1

(b) GT Cell

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Part family 1 Part family 2

(c) GT Centre
Fig. 1 Types of Group Technology Layouts
Virtual Manufacturing Cell
• In highly volatile manufacturing environments functional job shops and classical
cellular manufacturing systems do not perform well.
• Classical cellular manufacturing systems are sensitive to changing production
requirements due to their limited flexibility.
• In order to adapt cellular manufacturing systems to volatile manufacturing
environments, the virtual cellular manufacturing concept was proposed in the 1980s
by the National Bureau of Standards in USA.
• Unlike traditional cellular manufacturing systems, virtual cellular manufacturing
systems are most suitable in production environments that experience frequent
product mix changes.
• This concept is similar to group technology where job families are processed in
manufacturing cells.
• The main difference between a virtual cell and the classic cell is in the dynamic
nature of the virtual manufacturing cell; whereas the physical location and identity of
classic cell is fixed, the virtual cell is not fixed and will vary with changing
production requirements.
• The virtual manufacturing cell concept allows the flexible reconfiguration of shop
floors in response to changing requirements.

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• The life of a given shop floor configuration continues as long as the product mix
remains relatively unchanged
Demonstrative example – Job shop to GT flow line

DM DM
TM TM

DM DM
TM TM

VMM VMM BM BM

Routing of parts P1, P4, P9

BM Broaching Machine
DM Drilling Machine Routing of parts P2, P3, P7
TM Turning Machine
VMM Vertical Milling Routing of parts P5, P6, P8

Fig. 2 Arrangement of cells in a job shop environment

TM DM VMM TM

BM DM BM

DM TM

TM VMM DM

Fig. 3 Arrangements of Cells in a Cellular Manufacturing System – GT Flow line

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QUESTIONS:

1. Explain the uses and application of group technology in various functions of a

manufacturing organization.
2. How do different people of manufacturing organisation use group technology?
3. What is a GT layout? List the types of GT layout. Write the important characteristics
of each type of GT layout.
4. Why do you consider GT flow line as the most desirable type layout?
5. Identify the production situations suitable for different types of GT layout.
6. What is a GT center layout? When is such layout used?
7. When do you prefer a virtual manufacturing cell?

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WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING

What is World Class Manufacturing?

Until the 1970s, there was a widely accepted view of best practice in manufacturing.
Firms which had grown on the back of post-war reconstruction, sold into stable and
relatively undemanding markets. Supply-shortages meant that as long as firms could
provide the volume at a reasonable price and quality, they would continue to thrive.
Given these stable and favourable market conditions, the "model" which firms generally
strived to achieve was based on the following main characteristics:

Logistics were organised around the principle of mass production. Low cost was
to be achieved through high volume. Machinery was thus designed to produce
specialised products, and machine changeovers were to be minimised. This led
firms to hold large inventories of incoming materials, work-in-progress and
finished products, just-in-case anything might go wrong and interrupt the flow of
production.

Quality procedures were designed so as not to get in the way of production-flow.

So quality inspection was placed at the end of the production line, and faulty
products were reworked before delivery.

Work organisation was designed to support this system. Highly-skilled workers

concentrated on management, design, quality, marketing and supervision, and
unskilled workers followed the instructions they were given, often being paid on a
piece-work basis in order to maximise production.

These principles of mass production were appropriate as long as markets were stable and
undemanding. But once final markets became more heterogeneous and changeable, new
principles of production had to be established. In Europe, North America and Japan, these
market conditions began to change in the 1970s - customers wanted increasing variety
and quality, and were unwilling to trade-off quality against price. This led producers in
these countries to adopt new organising principles for their production processes.
Producers in India and other developing countries were until recently insulated from
more demanding markets and continued with outdated forms of manufacturing

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organisation. But now, with trade liberalisation, this head-in-the-sand attitude is no longer
viable.

The new principles of production – World-Class Manufacturing - are in sharp contrast to

the inherited pattern of mass production, namely: logistics are designed so that flexibility
can be ensured. This means producing in small batches to satisfy varied and volatile
markets. Inventories are organised on a “just-in-time” basis, and production flows
through the plant as single units rather than in large batches. Attention is paid to rapid
machine changeover and simpler and more flexible machinery is often used. Instead of
checking quality at the end of the line, quality is assured at each stage of the production
process, so that no defects are allowed to pass through the plant.

Work organisation becomes much more flexible, and the boundaries between “skilled”
and “unskilled” workers are narrowed. A key task is to develop an organisation, which
focuses on learning and continuous improvement, involving all of the labour force rather
than just the “skilled” engineers and managers.

Table 1. Contrasting Mass Production and World Class Manufacturing

Critical Control Points Mass Production
Logistics • Large batch production
• Just-in-case inventories
Specialised machinery
Quality • End of line inspection
• Reworking of defects
Work organisation • Division of labour
between skilled and
unskilled workers
• Specialised R&D and
product development
World Class
Manufacturing
• Single unit flow
production
• Just-in-time inventories
• Flexible machinery and
rapid machine
changeover
• Quality-at-source at
each part of production
process
• Multi-tasking and
multiskilling
• Continuous
improvement in green
areas as well as
specialized staff

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How is World Class Manufacturing Achieved?

There are a large number of "tools" which can be used to realise these objectives with
regard to production control, inventory and work-organisation. Some of these are to do
with factory layout; others affect production scheduling, machine changeover, quality
assurance and work-organisation. There is no universal toolkit that all firms need to adopt
in all circumstances. Which tool is relevant depends upon the particular Critical Success
Factors in the market in which the firm is operating. In making the transition to World-
Class Manufacturing, the firm needs to address three primary challenges, namely to:

Develop the awareness of the need to make the transition to World-Class

Manufacturing.
Develop the ability to search for relevant tools and to apply them effectively.
Monitor progress so that an improvement programme can be systematically
utilised.
Typical Critical Success Factors, which operate in open markets, are listed in the Table 2,
which also identifies which tools are relevant to make an effective response to these
market challenges. Moreover, improvement depends on knowing how the firm is doing,
and thus it is also important to determine how progress might be measured.

Table 2. Implementing World Class Manufacturing: Tools to Measure and Record

Progress
Critical Success World Class Manufacturing
Factor tool
1. Cost control Just-in-time logistics, quality at
source and supply chain
management tools
2. Quality Statistical Process Control, fool-
proofing to prevent errors,
Pareto analysis of types and
causes of production defects
3. External flexibility Just-in-time logistics, quality at
source and supply chain
management tools
Measurement Indicators
• Inventory holdings
• Absence of defects and
rework
• Cost of incoming
materials
• Customer return rates
• Internal reject, rework
and scrap rates
• Supplier quality
performance
• Time from customer
order to delivery
• Delivery frequency and
reliability to customers
• Delivery frequency and

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reliability of suppliers
4. Internal flexibility Cellular layouts, single unit • Machine changeover
flow, production pulling, times
kanban signalling system, • Batch and lot sizes
single-minute exchange of • Inventory levels
dies for rapid machine • Throughput time
changeover, supply chain through factory
management • Machine utilisation
levels
5. Capacity to change Multi-tasking, multi-skilling, • Literacy levels
(Human resource quality circles, kaizen groups, • Labour/management
development) training, incentive schemes. turnover levels
• Absenteeism rates
• Training expenditure
and types of training
• Employee development
• Suggestion
schemes/continuous
improvement
6. Innovation capacity Concurrent engineering, new • R&D expenditure
product development techniques • Proportion of sales from
new products
World Class Manufacturing and Organisational Restructuring
World Class Manufacturers are those that demonstrate industry best practice. To achieve
this companies should attempt to be best in the field at each of the competitive priorities
(quality, price, delivery speed, delivery reliability, flexibility and innovation).
Organisations should therefore aim to maximise performance in these areas in order to
maximise competitiveness. However, as resources are unlikely to allow improvement in
all areas, organisations should concentrate on maintaining performance in 'qualifying'
factors and improving 'competitive edge' factors. The priorities will change over time and
must therefore be reviewed.

Achieving World-Class Manufacturing standards is an essential step in enterprise

restructuring. But it is only one of a number of challenges facing the firm. The prime step
is to develop a realistic business strategy in which the firm matches its core competences
with the opportunities in the market. This business strategy will have identified the key
Critical Success Factors in the final markets. And it is from these Critical Success Factors
that the priorities in adopting World-Class Manufacturing will be identified. If, for

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example, it is quality, then emphasis will have to be given to the use of those
organisational tools, which will best deliver high quality at a low cost. Similarly, if lead-
time to satisfying customer orders is critical, then the emphasis will be placed on altering
production-flow, and reducing batch sizes and inventories.

Many of these changes will diffuse naturally as a consequence of the operation of the
market. Firms will be forced to innovate or to die. Diffusion may also happen as a
consequence of the demands of the lead-firms who are forcing change on their suppliers.
But international experience suggests that it would be unwise to rely on these two
mechanisms alone.

The natural operation of market forces may have forced into bankruptcy some firms
which might have survived had they been able to make the necessary changes first. And
lead-firms may make demands of their suppliers, but the suppliers may not know how to
achieve these demands. They will thus be delisted and be unable to thrive. A helping
hand can come form the Government of the country which can adopt suitable measures
that help to promote the diffusion of World Class Manufacturing.

Bibliography

1. School of Development studies, University of Natal, Enterprise Restructuring:

Implementing World-Class Manufacturing, Policy Brief: Industrial Restructuring,
October 2002, Issue 2.
2. Steudel, H. J. and Deruelle, P., Manufacturing in the Nineties: How to Become a
Mean, Lean, World-Class Competitor, 1992, Competitive Manufacturing Series, Van
Nostrand Reinhold, New York
QUESTIONS

1. What is world-class manufacturing?

2. What are the characteristics of world-class manufacturing systems?
3. List the tools in the context of ‘critical success factors’ required for a manufacturing
firm.
4. Compare and contrast mass production and world-class manufacturing.
5. Compare the logistics of world-class manufacturing and mass production.
6. What is internal flexibility for a manufacturing organisation? What are the tools
available to achieve this? How do you know that these tools are implemented?

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WAYS OF PERFORMING MANUFACTURING WORK

• Project – Unique, large scale work effort directed at one or a few end items
• Job – Small volume, somewhat small-scale work effort where the output is one or few
identical items, custom made to fit an order
• Batch – Produces several or many identical end items
• Repetitive and Continuous - Produces similar or identical items in high volume
 Repetitive productions are concerned with discrete units – Cars, TVs,
Computers, etc
 Continuous production – Material flow through the process – Fluids, minerals,
mixtures such as paint, steel, paper, petroleum, etc
• Under the heterogeneous and volatile market, firms has to organize the system to
have high efficiency as well as variety
• Solution to the problem of achieving both high efficiency and variety lie
 Partly in the way products are designed
 Partly in the way jobs are planned and scheduled
 Partly in the way operations and equipment are physically arranged in the
factory, and
 Partly in the way products are grouped for production
Common type of facility layout
• Fixed position layouts: For end-items that are large and difficult to move
• Process layouts: Similar types of operations are grouped into functional work area or
departments
• Product layout: All the necessary operations for producing a product are arranged in a
sequence called line – a production line, assembly line or flow line
Features of process layout
• Can readily process any product that require work in any of the departments,
regardless of the production volume and routine sequence of product
• Production output can be increased or decreased, new products can be added, and old
one can be dropped, all without changing the basic departmental layout of the facility
• Number of possible routing is large and many of them require moving material over
long distances – a non-value adding activity
• Requires considerable effort for scheduling, routing, sequencing, and tracking of jobs
• Material movement is not continuous – stop-and-go of work

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• Jobs must wait until jobs completed according to schedule – job waiting and hence
large WIP
• Jobs waiting in each department are for different end-items, so machines have to set
up for each job

• Large throughput time – Job routed through several operations can take weeks or
months to complete even though actual value-added processing take only hours or
minutes

• The layout is flexible but inefficiency and waste exists in terms of time, material
handling, defects and inventory

• Suitable when the product mix is primarily of small-quantity, custom-designed, or

one-of-a-kind

Features of product layout

• Work scheduling in this layout consists of determining the flow rate or cycle time
necessary to satisfy demand, then designing the line

• Neighbouring operations are located adjacently and material moves continuously

• Throughput time per unit is not much more than the processing time

• Dedicated to producing one kind of thing

• Product layouts are constrained in terms of output capacity – rate is designed into the
layout

• To alter the rate, the operations must be reconfigured

• Large investment, efficiency high, special purpose machines – often custom made

• Operators’ tasks are narrowly defined

Variety/volume trade-off
• To increase a firm’s product appeal and broaden market scope, it should strive for
agility so as to offer many kind of products

• At the same time, to reduce production waste and increase profits, it should focus on
relatively few products and produce them in high volume

• Under the taxonomy of ways of performing work and facility layouts – High volume,
high efficiency; Low volume, low efficiency

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• We know that for efficient production of discrete units, repetitive production is much
better than job-shop production

• If items can be produced over and over again, and if, at the same time, the production
process can accommodate some differences or variety in those items, then efficient
production of variety product will result

• To achieve this focus on few kinds of products

• Define each kind of product so it can actually represent many products, each
somewhat different

• That is, start with a large number of different products, then collapse that number for
purpose of production into a much smaller, more manageable number – Group
Technology

Questions
1. Read the following demonstrative example given in (a) and other books on facility
layout, then answer the question given in (b).

(a) A demonstrative example which describe different type of layout for a production
system
To illustrate the difference in product, process and group layouts, consider a situation in
which four parts (A, B, C, D) are to be produced and assembled into a single product.
The process sequence for parts is as follows:
A Saw—Turn—Mill—Drill
B Saw— Mill—Drill—Paint
C Grind— Mill—Drill—Paint
D Weld—Grind—Turn—Drill

Equipment Requirement
Part Daily Production Rate Weld Grind Saw Turn Mill Drill Paint
A 300 Nil Nil 0.5 0.5 0.3 0.2 Nil
B 200 Nil Nil 0.4 Nil 0.5 0.3 0.2
C 100 Nil 0.4 Nil Nil 0.3 0.5 0.3
D 200 0.3 0.5 Nil 0.3 Nil 0.2 Nil

(Production quantity/day) × Process time per unit

Equipment Requirement =
Availble time per day
Case: Product Layout
If independent lines are dedicated for each part, the number of machines required is

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Saw – 2 Nos., Grind -1 No., Turn – 2 Nos., Mill – 3 Nos., Drill – 4 Nos., and Paint – 2
Nos., Weld - 1 No.,
Saw Turn Mill Drill
A W
Saw Mill Drill Paint s A
S s R
T e E
O m H
R Grind Mill Drill Paint b O
E l U
y S
Weld Grind Turn Drill E

Fig. 1 Product layout

Case: Process Layout

Number of machines required:
Saw -1 No., Grind -1 No., Weld -1 No., Turn -1 No., Mill - 2 Nos., Drill - 2 No.,
and Paint -1 No.

Saw Turn Paint A W

s a
S s r
t e e
o Grind Mill Mill
m h
r b o
e l u
Weld Drill Drill s
y
e

Fig. 2 Process Layout

Case: Group Layout

Through visual analysis two groups are identified
Group1 – Part A & Part D
Group 2 – Part B & Part C
Layout - line or product type for each group
Layout for group1
Saw – weld – grind – turn – mill – drill
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1) Number of machines required

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Layout for group 2

Saw – grind – mill – drill – paint
(1) (1) (1) (1) (1) Number of machines required
Total number of machines required
Saw – 2 Nos., weld – 1 No., grind – 2 Nos., turn – 1 No., mill – 2 Nos., drill – 2 Nos., and
paint – 1 No.

S A W
s a
t Saw Weld Grind Turn Mill Drill s r
o e e
r m h
b o
e Saw Grind Mill Drill Paint l u
y s
e
Fig. 3 Group Layout

(b) A manufacturing system is producing 8 products (A, B, …, H). The route sheet,
weekly demand and process time (in minutes) are given below. Assume 5-day week
and 8 hours per day.

A----- mill – turn – drill – cut – chamfering

B----- Plane – slotting – weld – file
C----- turn – drill – cut – chamfering
D----- Mill – turn – cut – chamfering
E----- plane – weld – file – slotting
F----- weld – file – slotting
G---- Mill – turn – slotting – file
H---- turn – mill – slotting – file
Route sheet

A B C D E F G H
200 150 300 100 125 300 150 200
Average weekly demand

Mill Turn Drill Cut Chamfer Plane Slotting Weld File

A 10 15 5 3 4 ---- ---- ---- ----
B ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 10 15 5 10
C ---- 7 5 4 5 ---- ---- ---- ----
D 8 10 ---- 5 5 ---- ---- ---- ----
E ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 12 10 10 8
F ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 10 8 10
G 12 10 ---- ---- ---- ---- 12 ---- 8
H 8 12 ---- ---- ---- ---- 8 ---- 10
Processing time in minutes

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Suggest product, process and group layouts for the above data. Clearly show the number
of machines required to process the products with the demand given above under the all
type of layouts.
2. Write the performance measures that are better for product layout compared to
process layout.
3. Distinguish between group layout and functional layout.
4. What are the possible ways of achieving high efficiency and variety of products in a
manufacturing system?
5. Describe a production configuration suitable to achieve high efficiency and low
volume.

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