Browsing by Author "Eckstein, Astrid Louise Hammer"
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- ItemOpen AccessGroup technology/cellular manufacturing: considering human resource and quality issues using computer simulation(1994) Eckstein, Astrid Louise Hammer; Rohleder, Thomas R.In today's fiercely competitive marketplace, firms are looking for ways to improve their profitability. A number of computer simulations comparing group technology/cellular manufacturing (GT/CM) to job shop or process layouts addressed this topic. However, each of these simulations ignored some of the most basic operating conditions said to give GT/CM its advantages: human resources and quality. This simulation study incorporates human resource issues such as learning and labour constraints, together with quality issues such as defect rate and defect discovery. The simulation results show that GT/CM significantly outperforms the process layout in almost every environmental setting. A firm employing pure GT/CM with variable demand, fewer workers, fewer defects and fast learning could potentially improve its profitability three ways: by increasing productivity and having less inventory and rework; by improving its customer service level through on-time, high quality performance; and by increasing capacity.