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Production flow analysis for planning group technology
Author(s) -
Burbidge John L.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of operations management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.649
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1873-1317
pISSN - 0272-6963
DOI - 10.1016/0272-6963(91)90033-t
Subject(s) - group technology , backflow , production (economics) , production planning , computer science , division (mathematics) , operations management , process (computing) , set (abstract data type) , process management , flow (mathematics) , manufacturing engineering , industrial engineering , operations research , business , engineering , mathematics , economics , mechanical engineering , programming language , arithmetic , inlet , macroeconomics , operating system , geometry
Group technology (GT) is a method of organization for factories in which organizational units known as “groups” each complete a particular set or “family” of parts with no backflow, or crossflow between groups, and are equipped with all the facilities they need to do so. Production flow analysis (PFA) is a technique for planning the change to GT in existing batch and jobbing production factories. It finds a total division into groups, using the existing machines and methods to make the existing parts, without any need to buy additional machine tools. Because the change to GT is generally both possible (if PFA is used for planning) and profitable, process organization, in which organizational units specialize in particular processes, is now obsolete.