Feasibility Study for the Implementation of a G. T. System in a Multi-Product Company

Abstract

Since the late nineteen-forties, the concept of Group Technology (G.T) has been applied in European engineering companies, first in Russia and since the middle sixties in West Europe including Great Britain. The early applications were in plants particularly suited to this technology, but more recently general batch producing companies have looked at this manufacturing philosophy; these, according to the theory, could benefit greatly from G.T. Since approximately 80% of the engineering industry in this country is involved in batch production, it is likely that a wide-spread application of G.T. would have far reaching effects on the productivity of the engineering industry in this country. The author has been employed by Wildt Mellor Bromley Limited, Leicester to study the feasibility of applying GT. to the manufacture of large circular knitting machines which are complex assemblies produced in a variety of different sizes and models. The report presented here covers the following stages of a fundamental G.T. analysis (i) review of the plant and its problems to test its G.T. suitability (ii) assessment of objectives and prediction of financial benefits (iii) the analysis of the total component spectrum (a) to design the overall cell layout of the plant (b) to design a prototype cell. The report is based on a survey of the existing literature and it has been attempted to lay down certain parameters to gauge the suitability of a plant for G.T. and the savings which can be obtained. The available analysis techniques have been surveyed arid by means of the test case illustrated, it has been demonstrated how techniques of analysis can be selected to suit the specific requirements of the plant in question. The importance of supporting administrative systems, which have had limited publicity in most other applications, has been stressed,