A critical evaluation of the application of group technology in a capital goods manufacturer

This research was a part of an undertaking between Polytechnic South West and a sponsoring industrial partner within the Teaching Company Scheme to achieve a practical solution to a real world problem. The research was to critically evaluate the application of group technology in the machine shop of a low volume, high variety capital goods manufacturer. The purpose was to reduce the leadtimes of one-of-a-kind made-and-designed-to-order products of the company so that costs would be reduced and due date conformance would be improved. An algorithm to identify cells and part families as the basis of group technology in a machine shop was developed to allow the application of a pilot phase. The pilot phase was then critically evaluated. The design of a second phase was started. In this, the cell designs produced by the algorithm were adjusted to suit some of the business requirements of the company. The main requirements and benefits of the application of group technology that were observed in this research can be summarised as wider use of more multi-skilled people, increased duplication of tooling, reduced floorspace required, reduced indirect contribution (less production control, material handling and transportation, expediting) needed to support the production of parts, reduced direct time (less setups, tooling collection, clocking on and off) required to produce parts and opportunities for reduced leadtimes and improved due date conformance. These would then combine to generate lower costs