COPING WITH THE LOSS OF POOLING SYNERGY IN CELLULAR MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

The conversion of a functional layout into a cellular manufacturing sy stem involves the partitioning of several multiserver work centers. Th e loss of pooling synergy in this process can be significant, and this paper investigates the impact of several measures to overcome the adv erse effects on flow time, work-in-process inventory and machine utili zation. These can be alleviated to a certain extent through reductions in setup times and lot sizes that has been traditionally emphasized i n group technology, but a more concerted effort is required. Analytica l models are first utilized to investigate the extent to which these a dverse effects can be overcome through (1) reduction in setup time, (2 ) lot sizing, (3) reduction in the variability of process-times and jo b arrivals, and, (4) reduction in processing times through productivit y improvements, all arising from part family-oriented processing. Thes e insights are verified through a simulation comparison of five cellul ar manufacturing systems with a functional layout system in which opti mal lot sizes, low move times and a part family-oriented scheduling ru le are used.