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Group Technology

Introduction
Group technology was introduced by Frederick Taylor
in 1919 as a way to improve productivity.
One of long term benefits of group technology is it
helps implement a manufacturing strategy aimed at
greater automation.

Group technology is an operations management philosophy

based on the recognition that similarities occur in the design
and manufacture of discrete parts.
Similar parts can then be arranged into part families.
To implement such a system, some form of classification of
parts and coding is required.

Benefits of a greater automated system:

Reduces costs, maintains higher quality, more
profitable production.

WHAT IS GROUP TECHNOLOGY?

Group technology is an operations
management
philosophy based on the recognition that similarities
occur in the design and manufacture of discrete parts.
GT recognizes and exploits similarities in three different
ways:
By performing like activities together
By standardizing similar tasks
By efficiently storing and retrieving information about
recurring problems

Part classification and coding is concerned with identifying

the similarities and using these similarities to evolve a
classification code. Similarities are of two types:
Design attributes (such as geometric shape and size), and
Manufacturing features (the sequence of processing steps
required to make the part)

Similar parts can then be arranged into part families.

To implement such a system, some form of classification
of parts and coding is required.
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PART MANUFACTURING FEATURES:

operations and operation sequences (turning,
milling, etc.)
batch sizes
machine tools
cutting tools
work holding devices
processing times

DESIGN ATTRIBUTES:
part configuration (round or prismatic)
dimensional envelope (length to diameter
ratio)
surface integrity (surface roughness,
dimensional tolerances)
material type
raw material state (casting, forging, bar stock,
etc.)
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Group Layout
The Basic Key Features for a Successful Group
Technology Applications:

In most of todays factories it is possible to

divide all the made components into families
and all the machines into groups, in such a way
that all the parts in each family can be
completely processed in one group only.

Group Layout
Short Cycle Flow Control

The tree main types of layout are

A Planned Machine Loading

Line Layout
Group Layout
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Functional Layout

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Line Layout

Functional Layout

Line Layout is used at present in simple

process industries, in continuous assembly, and
for mass production of components required in
very large quantities.

In Functional Layout, all machines of the

same type are laid out together in the same
section under the same foreman. Each foreman
and his team of workers specialize in one
process and work independently.This type of
layout is based on process specialization.

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The Difference between group and functional layout:

Group Layout
In Group Layout, each foreman and his team
specialize in the production of one list of parts
and co-operate in the completion of common
task. This type of layouts based on component
specialization.

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Families
The word Family is used as a name for any
list of similar parts. The families used with
group layout are lists of parts which are
similar because they are all made on the
same group of machines. This type of
family is called a Production Family.
However, not all parts which are similar in
shape will appear in the same family.

The other important features that is

important choosing the families;
Manufacturing tolerances
Required quantities
Materials
Special features, which will require the use
of different machines

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Groups

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PART FAMILIES

A group is a list of machines, selected for layout

together in one place, because it contains all
necessary facilities to complete the processing of
a given family of parts. A family of parts can only
be defined by relating it to a particular group of
machines, and a group by relating it to a family.
Groups vary greatly in type and size, widely in the
number of machines and different machines
types.

Parts are grouped into families, based on their

attributes.
There are three general methods that can be
used to form part families:
Manual visual inspection
Production flow analysis
Parts classification and coding system
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Manual visual inspection involves

arranging a set of parts into groups
known as part families by visually
inspecting the physical
characteristics of the parts.

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Production flow analysis: Parts that go

through common operations are grouped into
part families.

Manual visual inspection

incorrect results
human error
different judgment by different people
inexpensive
least sophisticated
good for small companies having smaller
number of parts

The machines used to perform these common

operations may be grouped as a cell,
consequently this technique can be used in
facility layout (factory layout)

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