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Recipient of the 2003 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing

REORGANIZING THE FACTORY: COMPETING THROUGH CELLULAR MANUFACTURING

Nancy Hyer and Urban Wemmerlöv

Cellular manufacturing principles, applied to either administrative work or production, are fundamental building blocks for lean and quick response organizations. Reorganizing the Factory is the definitive reference book in this important area.

The book will serve as a field-guide for companies who are looking to increase throughput, decrease cost, reduce inventories and lead-times. Many books I have read have merely touched upon the subject of cellular manufacturing, which on the surface appears to be an easy concept to grasp. However, as any brown field practitioner will tell you, cell implementation is destined for failure or mediocre results without an understanding of the cultural and systemic changes required to enable and sustain the gains. In Reorganizing the Factory, Hyer and Wemmerlöv have decoded the DNA of cellular manufacturing to ensure maximum results and sustainability.

Don Gogan, Plant Manager 
Harley-Davidson Motor Company 

There is a new book, Reorganizing the Factory, that makes "Learning to See" and “Value Stream Mapping" dated!  Reorganizing the Factory is a great hands-on book with hardly any fluff!  Buy it, read it, and embark on your "lean journey."

Shahrukh Irani, Associate Professor
The Ohio State University

This is a must read for organizations who want to use Cellular Manufacturing to gain competitive advantage. In addition to "hard" cell design issues, the book focuses as well on the "soft" side of cells, which we have found to be the largest determinants of the success (or failure) of cells.

Michael Wayman, General Manager-Steel Operations
Ingersoll Cutting Tools

CONTENT

Reorganizing work processes into cells has helped many organizations streamline operations, shorten lead times, increase quality, and lower costs.  Cellular manufacturing is a powerful concept that is simple to understand; however, its ultimate success depends on deciding where cells fit into your organization, and then applying the know-how to design, implement and operate them.  

Reorganizing the Factory presents a thoroughly researched and comprehensive “life cycle” approach to competing through cellular work organizations.  It takes you from the basic cell concept and its benefits through the process of justifying, designing, implementing, operating, and improving this new type of work organization in offices and on the factory floor. 

The book discusses many important technical dimensions, such as factory analysis, cell design, planning and control systems, and principles for lead time and inventory reduction.  However, unique to the literature, it also covers in depth the numerous managerial issues that accompany organizing work into cells. In most implementations, performance measurement, compensation, education and training, employee involvement, and change management are critically important. These issues are often overlooked in the planning process, yet they can occupy more of the implementation time than do the technical aspects of cells.

Includes:

• Why do cells improve lead time, quality, and cost?
• Planning for cell implementation
• Justifying the move to cells, strategically and economically
• Designing efficient manufacturing and office cells
• Selecting and training cell employees
• Compensation system for cell employees
• Performance and cost measurement
• Planning and control of materials and capacity
• Managing the change to cells
• Problems in designing, implementing, and operating cells
• Improving and adapting existing cells
• Structured frameworks and checklists to help analysis and decision-making
• Numerous examples of cells in various industries

MORE REVIEWER COMMENTS

Reorganizing the Factory is a great handbook for a manager either just starting to investigate cells or someone experienced with cells and looking to upgrade/enhance. It also addresses the "soft" side of implementing cells as well as the technical and logistical aspects. In addition, Hyer & Wemmerlöv discuss setting up office cells. Many companies don't realize the large potential benefits of going "cellular" in the office as well as on the manufacturing floor.

Ronald Leong, Manager-Global Business Planning 
Delphi Automotive Systems

This book is very comprehensive. Those who pursue a particular manufacturing strategy eventually face cellular manufacturing (CM) and must find a way to put that concept into practice. Reading this book inspires manufacturing managers to visualize the type of CM they need and allows for a smoother implementation.

Also, this book is different from other publications. Books on manufacturing strategies give us directions, and books on Kaizen provide tools. Yet, something is missing with respect to the reality of manufacturing management. This book serves as a perfect bridge for the missing link to make every corporate manufacturing strategy full-fledged and practically workable.

Masami Shimizu, Deputy Director, Production Department
Paper and Printing Machinery Division
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Japan

This is a well thought-out book based on years of research on implementation of manufacturing cells. The authors have brought the same level of rigor that they are known for in research circles towards writing this book for the benefit of practitioners. It is well-structured, and addresses all relevant design and implementation issues, as well as potential roadblocks in the application of cells. Most books on cells have a technical/tactical orientation, but this book also addresses strategic imperatives of the business, in terms of ultimately deriving competitive advantages in the market place through cellular factories and office reorganizations. 

It clearly belongs on the bookshelf of every manufacturing manager interested in streamlining manufacturing operations and supply chains.

Nallan Suresh, Professor 
SUNY-Buffalo

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Nancy Lea Hyer is Associate Professor of Management at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Nancy was Operations Research Manager at Hewlett-Packard’s Network Measurements Division. In that capacity she played a leadership role in cell education and worked with various HP teams in designing and implementing cell-based manufacturing. She has also worked with many other organizations on the same issues. Dr. Hyer earned her B. A. degree from University of Richmond and her MBA and Ph.D. from Indiana University.

Urban Wemmerlöv is the Kress Family Wisconsin Distinguished Professor at the School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he directs the Erdman Center for Operations and Technology Management. His teaching and research focus on cellular manufacturing, change management, and planning and control systems. Many of his over 80 publications are on the design and operation of cells. Dr. Wemmerlöv holds a B.S. in Business, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a doctorate in Production Management (all from Lund University, Sweden), and an M.S. in IEOR (from the University of California-Berkeley). He is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute and a certified fellow (CFPIM) of the American Production and Inventory Control Society.

Reorganizing the Factory: Competing through Cellular Manufacturing
Nancy Hyer and Urban Wemmerlöv
Productivity Press, 2002 (770 pages)
URL: www.productivityinc.com