GROUP TECHNOLOGY

DEFINITION

Group technology is a manufacturing

philosophy in which similar parts are
identified and grouped together to take
advantage of their similarities in design
and production.

Similar parts are arranged into part

families where each part family
possesses similar design or
manufacturing characteristics.

Grouping the production equipment

into machine cells where each cell
specialises in the production of a part
family is called cellular
manufacturing.

CHALLENGES

Identifying part families

-grouping parts into families is
time consuming.

Re-arranging production machine

into machine cells
-time consuming and costly.
-machines idle during
changeover.

BENEFITS TO
COMPANIES

GT promotes standardising of tooling,

fixtures and setups.
Material handling is reduced because
parts are moved over minimum distance.
Setup times are reduced.
Work in process is reduced.
Worker satisfaction is improved.
Process planning, production scheduling
are simplified.

PART FAMILIES

A part family is a collection of parts that

are similar either because of geometric
shape and size or because similar
processing steps are required in their
manufacture.

Parts within a family are different but

their similarities are close enough to
merit their inclusion as members of the
part family.

GROUPING THE PARTS

Visual inspection

Part classification and coding

Production flow analysis

VISUAL INSPECTION

Involves the classification of parts into

families by looking at either the
physical parts or their photographs and
assembling them into groups.

The method is the least sophisticated

and least expensive method.

PART CLASSIFICATION
AND CODING

Similarities among parts are identified

and these similarities are related in
coding system.

Two categories of part similarities

-design attributes
-manufacturing attributes

REASONS FOR USING A

CODING SHEME

Design Retrieval:
simple change in existing part would take
much less time than designing a whole new part
from scratch.
Automated process handling:
search for process plans for existing
parts with identical or similar codes.
Machine cell design:
to design machine cells capable of
producing all members of a particular part
family.

Parts classification and

coding systems

Systems based on part design

attributes.

Systems based on manufacturing

attributes.

Systems based on both design and

manufacturing attributes.

PART DESIGN
ATTRIBUTES

Basic external shape

Basic internal shape
Rotational (or) Rectangular shape
Length to diameter ratio
Aspect ratio
Material type
Major dimensions
Minor dimensions
Tolerance
Surface finish

PART MANUFACTURING
ATTRIBUTES

Major processes
Minor operations
Operation sequence
Machine tool
Production cycle time
Fixtures required
Cutting tools
Batch size

STRUCTURES IN
CLASSIFICATION AND CODING
Hierarchical structure:
Interpretation of each successive
symbol depends on the value of the
preceding symbols.
Chain type structure:
Interpretation of each symbol in the
sequence does not depend on the value
preceding symbols.
Mixed-mode structure:
Hybrid of the two codes.

CODING SYSTEMS

Oplitz classification system

Brisch system
CODE
CUTPLAN
DCLASS
Multiclass
Part analog system

OPLITZ CLASSIFICATION
SYSTEM
Developed by H.Oplitz
12345 6789 ABCD
FORM CODE:
First five digits(12345)
External shape, machined features.
SUPPLIMENTARY CODE:
Next four digits(6789)
Manufacturing attributes.
SECONDARY CODE:
ABCD
Production operation type and sequence.

Production Flow Analysis

(PFA)

PFA is a method for identifying part

families and associated machine
groupings that uses the information of
production route sheets rather than
part drawings.
Work parts with identical routings are
classified into part familes.

Procedure of PFA

Data collection

Sortation of process routings

PFA chart

Cluster analysis

DATA COLLECTION

Part no. & operation sequence are the

minimum required data which can be
obtained from route sheets or
operation sheets which is also known
as Shop documents.
Additional data such as Lot size, time
standards, annual demand will be
useful for designing machine cells with
required production capacity.

SORTATION OF PROCESS
ROUTINGS

In this step, the parts are arranged into

groups according to the similarity of
their process routings.

To facilitate this step, all operations or

machines included in the shop are
reduced to code numbers.

PFA CHART

This chart is a tabulation of the process or

machine code numbers for all the part
packs.
Part-machine incidence matrix
Xij=1
part i requires operation on machine j.
Xij=0
Part i is does not require operation on
machine j.

CLUSTER ANALYSIS

Related groupings are identified and

re-arranged into a new pattern that
brings together packs with similar
machine sequences.

APPLICATIONS OF GT

Process planning
New parts process plan is taken from
existing part families.
Modular fixture
Design of common base fixture which
can be used for different parts in the family.
Parametric programming
Common NC program for entire part
family.

THANK YOU