Cellular manufacturing, also known as lean manufacturing, is a newer process that reduces waste and increases profits. It uses cells of workers and machinery to produce specific components of a product, minimizing downtime and waste. Kaizen is a common cellular system developed by Toyota. Implementing cellular manufacturing can be expensive but has long-term benefits.
The cellular manufacturing system, often called lean manufacturing, is a fairly recent development in global manufacturing processes. One of the earliest, and today, most common cellular or lean manufacturing systems is the Kaizen system. Originally conceived by the Toyota Corporation of Japan, Kaizen uses cellular technology and manufacturing to reduce the waste of time, effort, money and resources in the manufacturing process.
A cell production layout is in direct contradiction to the traditional production line. In the production line, numerous workers are required to serve a single production line that goes from receiving the raw material to shipping the finished product. A breakdown of personnel or machinery anywhere on the line almost always resulted in downtime of the entire process until the specific difficulty of the line was repaired or re-crewed. With cellular fabrication, production is divided between groups, or cells, of workers and production machinery. Therefore, the failure of a cell, due to equipment malfunctions or personnel problems, does not radically affect the rest of the production process.
While very technical and detailed, the concept of cell manufacturing is basically simple; get a finished product from raw materials to shipping as efficiently and profitably as possible. Cellular production systems and layouts essentially separate the production line into segments, or cells, sometimes called modules. Each cell, made up of both workers and production machinery, is dedicated to a particular component of the product. Ideally, the workers and equipment that make up a particular cell are trained and configured to be able to take over another cell’s processes when needed, thereby minimizing downtime and raw material waste.
Obviously, a significant investment in time and money is required to implement a lean, or cellular, manufacturing system, especially in an established manufacturing facility. The process of modulating the production process usually involves both the retraining of workers and the retooling of equipment. This process becomes much less expensive and time consuming when implemented as part of an early stage manufacturing venture. In established facilities, the implementation process typically takes several months, while new facilities will incorporate cell manufacturing procedures into the construction and employee training process.
Cellular technology and manufacturing have combined to streamline the manufacturing processes of many established and start-up manufacturing facilities around the world. Lean systems, such as Kaizen and Six Sigma, to name but two, while very often high in startup costs, provide both a short- and long-term benefit in reducing waste common to the traditional production line. The bottom line in any manufacturing enterprise is profit. Cell manufacturing has been shown to dramatically increase profits.
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