Moving From Job-Shop to Production Cells Without Losing Flexibility: A Case Study From the Wooden Frames Industry

Abstract

Cellular production is usually seen as a hybrid approach between job-shop and flow-line paradigms, reducing the major disadvantages of these two paradigms: the low productivity of job-shops and the low flexibility (in terms of products' variety) of the flow-lines. This paper describes the implementation of a production cell in a production unit of woodframed pictures and mirrors, which was originally configured as a traditional job-shop, without losing the necessary flexibility to face market demand and simultaneously increasing the production unit's performance. By implementing a highly flexible cell, very significant improvements were expected for the system's overall performance and the quality of the products. These expectations were met, and the implementation was successful, as demonstrated by the results presented.

Production systems redesign in a lean context: A matter of sustainability

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A symbiotic relationship between Lean Production and Ergonomics: insights from Industrial Engineering final year projects

“…After a first successful project that had been developed two years earlier, based on the reconfiguration of five assembly lines into two assembly cells, the company was so satisfied with the results that decided to reconfigure other assembly lines of a different product into assembly cells. The advantages of reconfiguring assembly lines into cells are well documented in the literature, showing the importance of this reconfiguration for waste elimination but also for ergonomic advantages [10,[49][50][51]. P16 was a project developed in an elevators company that was very motivated with its lean journey initiated by a consulting company.…”

Production Process of Front Lights on Anoa 2 6x6 Special Vehicles at PT. Pindad (Persero)

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