ABSTRACT

Group Technology (GT) is one way to identify physical, functional, and processing similarities between different products. Like GT coding and classification, cluster analysis identifies similarities in product features and production requirements in order to form homogeneous groups of products. A focused factory is a portion of a larger factory devoted to producing a particular group of products—a product family. As with manufacturing decisions, the product variety–volume trade off is a key element in determining which products to produce in a focused factory. The three common types of facilities layout are fixed-position, process, and product. Fixed-position layouts are common in project work where the end item is large and difficult to move, and in job work where items are custom-produced by craftspeople. Handling and transportation wastes are reduced because everything—workers and machines—are clustered closely together. Thus, focused factories are inherently less wasteful than job shops.