Manufacturing Change: Introducing Cellular Production in Two British Factories

Abstract

The introduction of cellular manufacture in two factories is examined. In the first factory, the economic difficulties driving the changes were anticipated rather than being felt. Its most pressing problem was how to divide its products into the “families” necessary for cellular production. It was decided that this division should to some extent determine what products should be produced rather than vice versa. For the second factory, where economic difficulties were already present, the stage had been reached at which it had to be decided who was to work in the cells. Though the decisions had been made, they had not been communicated to the workforce for fear of disrupting current production. In both cases it can be seen that in order to gain the benefits of cellular manufacture, fundamental changes have to be made not only in the production process but also in the management of human resources.