The Implementation of Group Assembly Methods in a Medium-Sized Scottish Manufacturing Company: First Results and Comparisons with Conventional Assembly Methods

Abstract

This paper describes an empirical study of final assembly in an electronics company. A cellular organisation for assembly of a new product was proposed and accepted; and the cell and a flowline operated in parallel for a period. The experiment was disrupted by delays to production caused by problems in the design of the new product, but the cell survived, was used in modifying product after a design change, and will be used as a model for the production of another new product.

The aims of the research were to effect change in the company by applying Group Technology (GT) principles in combination with Just-In-Time (JIT) methods of production control, and to observe the process of change and the consequences for production of the cellular approach. A detailed account of the study is given as are the results of a comparison between flowline and cell and a study of a modified approach to the organisation of a machine-paced flowline.