Determinants of group technology/cellular manufacturing systems success: an empirical investigation

This paper addresses the major issues involved in managing the development of group technology/cellular manufacturing (GT/CM) systems. First, theoretical and empirical literature in GT/CM are explored to identify the planning, design and implementation practices which are expected to play major roles in successful development of cellular manufacturing systems. Then we attempt to measure if and to what extent these practices affect the success of such projects via a detailed survey of 69 companies that have implemented GT/CM systems. It is observed that a properly managed/GT/CM project can provide, not only operational efficiency but also, strategic advantages to a firm. Several management issues that stand out in our study are: (1) training of employees across functional boundaries at all levels of organisational hierarchy, (2) revised incentive/reward schemes, (3) autonomy of cell teams, (4) gradual phasing–in of cells, (5) employee involvement during the development life cycle, and (6) setting specific ...