Gt Mountain Bike Sizing
Can Group Technology cell be expected to be economically justified over traditional batch manufacturing?
The traditional batch manufacturing is suited to low volume products that are customized and produced in a jumbled flow pattern, which reduces throughput and efficiency. Batch production implies high product variety in small volumes. Group technology (GT) in contrast is an approach to streamline the batch production via computer aided manufacturing (CAM) technologies. CAM utilizes computers to design the production process and control machinery tools and the materials flow in a batch production. In essence, GT is a philosophy in which similar parts are grouped together into families and the process required to make the parts are arranged in a ‘cell’. This achieves straight-line flow in a batch production.
GT is economical when mass customization is sought. For instance, changing moulds of pre cast electrical posts is often required to meet varying standard heights (normally 3m through 12m) and varying standard sizes (150 x 200mm, 200x 300mm etc). The CAM can automatically adjust the moulding structures to meet the sizes and heights rapidly.
In a garment factory where the total production process has been streamlined with the use of computers, the speedy movement of materials from one machine to another is made possible under computer control. This reduces labor involvement to a greater extent bringing value for money, particularly in regions where the labor is not cheaply available.
GP can yield benefits in products for which the quality is fundamental. The automatic process of production helps maintain a consistent level of quality throughout the production process.
Although the initial capital to be expended in grouping manufacturing process is high, the maintenance costs in factories where the GT has been implemented is relatively low. This results in substantial cost savings in long run.
The use of GT can be economically justified over traditional batch manufacturing whenever the nature of products itself is technology based. (for instance, cellular mobile phones, computer software packages and chip manufacture, digital calculators, global position systems for surveying instruments are based on micro-electronic, robotic, cellular technologies). It is neither economically nor technologically feasible to apply traditional batch manufacturing techniques in products of this type.
A benefit of GT is to speed up the manufacturing process and to reduce in-process inventories by moving parts quickly through the manufacturing process. However, in a typical batch facility, parts may spend lot of waiting time in line for machines to become available. It is possible to accelerate the flow of materials in a GT layout and to bring more of the materials-handling functions under computer control. A more flexible manufacturing system can be achieved via a complete automation of a GT layout. For instance, a particular machine is fully allocated to undertake a one or many similar functions in a cell leaving the machine gainfully occupied in the task fully streamlined and coordinated with the other tasks in the manufacturing process. This avoids unnecessary waiting time and delays in product delivery.
The GT adopted in the process of payments against the contractor’s monthly interim invoices is a classic example of this nature. The quantity surveyors handing the subject of payment has been set at a post contract computer system called CMS (contract management system) in order to certify the work done prior to issue the payment certificate. This service unit is fully automated, streamlined and arranged in a cell form to avoid jumble flow of invoices.
Cells in a GT layout consist of few workers who form a small work team who looks after only a handful of different parts in a finite production cycle. Further a fewer parts travel through the shop since cell combines several production stages. These altogether promote better human relations, short learning curve, orientation period and faster production. The fact that the extent of dependency on the individual in a GT layout is therefore reduced to a greater extent and the extent of dependency on the system can be economical and safer to a firm of production or service in many instances such as in a scarcity of labor, change of technology, new law reforms, etc.
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