SUNYANI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

LECTURE NOTES

ON

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING I

GROUP TECHNOLOGY

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GROUP TECHNOLOGY
 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 parts families where each part
family possesses similar design and or manufacturing
characteristics.
 Example: A plant producing 10000 different part numbers may be
able to group the vast majority of these into 30-40 distinct
families.

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GROUP TECHNOLOGY
 It is reasonable to believe that the processing of each member of a
given family is similar and this should result in manufacturing
efficiencies.
 The efficiencies are generally achieved by arranging the
production equipment into machine groups or cells to facilitate
work flow.
 Grouping the production equipment into machine cells where each
cell specializes in the production of a part family is called cellular
manufacturing.
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BENEFITS OF GROUP TECHNOLOGY

Cost Savings:
1.Fewer tool changes, setups, and operational interruptions.
2.Reduced material handling and inventory costs.
Improved Workflow:
3.Logical grouping of parts and processes improves production
flow.
4.Reduces bottlenecks and unnecessary movements.
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CONDITION FOR GROUP TECHNOLOGY

 The plant currently uses traditional batch production and a
process type layout and this results in much material handling
effort, high in process inventory, and long manufacturing lead
times.
 The parts can be grouped into part families: This is a necessary
condition. Each machine cell is designed to produce a given part
family or limited collection of part families, so it must be possible
to group parts made in the plant into families.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF GROUP TECHNOLOGY

There are two major tasks that a company must undertake when it
implements group technology. These two task represent significant
obstacles to the application of GT.
1. Identifying the Part Families:
If the plant makes 10000 different parts reviewing all of the part
drawings and grouping the parts into families is a substantial task that
consumes a significant amount of time.
2. Rearranging Production Machines into Machine Cells:
It is time consuming and costly to plan and accomplish this
rearrangement and the machines are not producing during changeover.

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PART FAMILY
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.
The part within a family are different, but their similarities
are close enough to merit their inclusion as members of the
part family.
There are two major types of part family:
 Design Part Family
 Manufacturing Part Family
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CLASSIFICATION OF PART FAMILY

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PART FAMILY
 Similar prismatic parts requiring
similar milling operations

 Dissimilar parts requiring similar

machining operations (hole drilling,
surface milling)

 Identical designed parts requiring

completely different manufacturing
process
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The figure in next slide shows a process-type

REASONS FOR USING PART FAMILY

layout for batch production in machine shop. The

various machine tools are arranged by function.

There is a lathe section, milling machine section,

drill section. During machining, the work piece
must move between sections, perhaps the same
section visited several times. This result in,
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PART FAMILY

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This result in
REASONS FOR USING PART FAMILY

 Increased Material handling movements

 Large in-process inventory
 More setups than necessary
 Long manufacturing lead time
 And high running and capital cost

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REASONS FOR USING PART FAMILY

Figure. in next slide shows production shop of equivalent
capacity, but machines are arranged into cells.

Each cell is organized to specialize in the manufacture of a

particular part family.

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REASONS FOR USING PART FAMILY

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Advantages are:
REASONS FOR USING PART FAMILY

 Reduced work piece handling

 Lower setup times
 less in-process inventory
 Less floor space
 shorter lead time.

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PART FAMILY FORMATION

The biggest single obstacle in changing over to GT from conventional
production shop is the problem of grouping the parts into families.
There are three general methods of solving this problem.

 Visual inspection
 Parts classified and coding
 Production flow analysis

All the three methods are time consuming and involve the analyze of
much data by properly trained personnel.
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VISUAL INSPECTION
 This method is the least sophisticated and least expensive
method.
 It involves the classification of parts into families by looking at
either the physical part or their photographs and arranging
them into groups having similar features.
 This method is generally considered to be the least accurate o
the three
 This method is fast and simple and is useful when the part mix is
not complex.

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PRODUCTION FLOW ANALYSIS (PFA)

Production flow analysis (PFA) is a method for identifying parts
families and associated machines groupings that uses the
information contained on process plan rather than on part drawings.
Steps involved in PFA
 Data collection
 Sortation of process routing
 Preparation of PFA chart
 Clustering analysis

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PRODUCTION FLOW ANALYSIS (PFA)

The procedure of Production flow analysis (PFA) consist of the
following steps:
 Data collection: the minimum data needed in the analysis are the parts
number and operation sequence, which is obtained from process plan
 Sortation of process plans: A sortation procedure is used to group parts
with identical process plans
 PFA Chart: The process used for each group are then displayed in a PFA
chart as shown below.
 Clustering analysis: from the pattern of data in the PFA chart, related
grouping are identified and rearranged into a new pattern that brings
together group with similar machine sequences
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PRODUCTION FLOW ANALYSIS (PFA)

In case of the example in Table below, it is easy to build groups:
 Group 1: parts {13, 2, 8, 6, 11 }, machines {B, D}
 Group 2: parts { 5, 1, 10, 7, 4, 3}, machines {A, H, I, E}
 Group 3: parts { 15, 9, 12, 14}, machines {C, G, F}

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Example: Consider the problem of 5 machines and 6 part. Try to
group them using the rank order clustering algorithm

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Solution: First, the rows

are interpreted as binary
numbers and sorted

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Solution: This gives

a new ordering 5-3-
4-2-1

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Solution: we sort columns

w.r.t. decreasing binary
numbers

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Solution: Final

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Solution: Now 2 groups can

be formed
 Group 1: parts {1, 4, 6},
machines {5, 3}
 Group 2: parts { 3, 2, 5},
machines {4, 2, 1}

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BINARY ORDERING (RANK ORDER CLUSTERING ALGORITHM)

Exercise: Consider the

problem of 5 machines
and 6 part. Try to group
them using the rank order
clustering algorithm

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ADVANTAGES OF PFA
 Parts classification and coding uses design data and the PFA uses
manufacturing data (i.e., route sheet) to identify part families.
 Due to this fact, as pointed out by Groover, PFA can overcome two
possible anomalies that can occur in parts classification and coding.
 First, parts whose basic geometries are quite different may
nevertheless require similar or identical process routings.
 Second, parts whose geometries are similar may nevertheless require
process routings that are quite different.
 Also PFA requires less time than a complete parts classification and
coding procedure.
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DISADVANTAGES OF PFA
 PFA does not provide any mechanism for rationalizing the manufacturing
routings.
 No consideration being given to routing sheet whether the routings are optimal
or consistent or logical.
 Process sequences from route sheets are prepared by different process
planners, hence the routings may contain processing steps that are non-
optimal, illogical and unnecessary.

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PARTS CLASSIFICATION AND CODING METHOD

 Coding is a systematic process of establishing an alphanumeric value for
parts based on selected part features. Classification is the grouping of parts
based on code values.
 It is the most sophisticated, most difficult, most time-consuming and widely
used of the three methods.
 Here the various design and/or manufacturing attributes of a part are
identified, listed and assigned a code number.
 Though several classification and coding systems have been developed, no
system has been universally adopted. one of the reasons for this is that the
information that is to be represented in the classification and coding system
will vary from one company to another company.
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PARTS CLASSIFICATION AND CODING METHOD

Three categories of part similarities can be distinguished.
 Design attributes: which concerned with part characteristics
such as geometry, size, and material. (Basic external and internal
shape, rotational or rectangular shape, Length-to-diameter ratio, aspect
dimension and tolerance)
 Manufacturing attributes: which consider the sequence of
processing steps required to make a part. (Major processes, Minor
operations, Operation sequence, dimension, Surface finish,
Machine tool, Production cycle time)
 Combine attributes of design and manufacturing
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CODING SYSTEM STRUCTURE

 It consist of a sequence of symbols that identify the parts design or
manufacturing attributes.
 The symbols in the code can be all numeric, all alphabetic, or
combination of both types.
 Most common classification and coding system use number digits
only
 Three basic structures of codes used in are:
a. Hierarchical structure, or Monocode
b. Chain type structure or Polycode
c. Hybrid, or Mixed
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Monocode or Hierarchical Code

 The structure of monocode is like a tree in which each symbol
amplifies the information provided in the previous digit.

 It provide a relatively compact structure which give information

about part in a limited number of digits.

 This type of code is particularly preferred in design departments

for retrieval because this type of system is very effective for
capturing shape, material, and size information

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Monocode or Hierarchical Code

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Polycode or Chaintype
 The interpretation of each symbol in the sequence is always the
same. It does not depends on the value of the preceding symbols.
 Each digit in specific location of the code describes a unique
property of the work piece
 It is easy to learn and useful in manufacturing situations where the
manufacturing process have to be describe
 The length of a polycode may become excessive because of its
unlimited combinational features

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Polycode or Chain Type

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Mixed Code or Hybrid Code

 It is the mixture of both monocode and polycode systems. Mixed
code retains the advantages of both systems. Most coding systems
use this code structure.

 A code created by this manner would be relatively more compact

than a pure attribute code while retaining the ability to easily
identify parts with specific characteristics..

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Coding Systems
 Part classification and coding systems which are widely recognized
among people familiar with GT:
1. OPTIZ system
2. MICLASS system
3. CODE system

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THE OPITZ CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

 It is a mixed (hybrid) coding system developed by OPTIZ,
Technical University of Aachen, 1970
 It is widely used in industry
 It provides a basic framework for understanding the classification
and coding process
 It can be applied to machined parts, non-machined parts (both
formed and cast) and purchased parts
 It considers both design and manufacturing information

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Form code: Focus on part geometry dimensions and features

relevant to part design
Supplementary code: Includes information relevant to
manufacturing, such as raw material, tolerance, and surface
roughness
Secondary code: Intended to identify the production operation type
and sequence.
 It can be designed by the user firm to serve its own needs
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Example: Optiz part coding System

Given the rotational part design below, determine the form code in the Optiz parts
classification and coding system.

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Solution
Step 1: The total length of the part is 1.500, overall diameter 1.000
L/D = 1.5 (code 1)
Step 2: External shape - a rotational part that is stepped on both with one thread
(code 5)
Step 3: Internal shape - a through hole (code 1)
Step 4: By examining the drawing of the part (code 0)
Step 5: No auxiliary holes and gear teeth (code 0)
Code: 15100
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Example

• Part class: Rotational part, L/D = 9.9/4.8 ≈ 2.0 based on the pitch circle
diameter of the gear, so the first digit = 1
• External shape: The part is stepped on one side with a functional groove, so
the second digit is 3
• Internal shape: The third digit is 1 because of the through hole
• Plain surface machining: The fourth digit is 0 because there is no plain
surface machining
• Auxiliary holes and gear teeth: The fifth digit is 6 because there are spur
gear teeth on the part
46
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THANK YOU

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