Evaluating the performance of a cellular manufacturing system proposal for the sewing department of a sportswear manufacturing company: A simulation approach

Abstract

Cellular manufacturing systems (CMS) are a major application of group technology, that brings benefits related to the reduction of wastes, also known as ‘mudas’ in lean manufacturing philosophy, to organisations striving to compete in today’s markets. These benefits include the reduction of machine setup times, material handling and work-in-process inventory, among others. However, many organisations are reluctant to implement such decisions in their production systems, due to the uncertainty and economic and productive impact that these involve. For this reason, a simulation study is performed in this paper to evaluate the performance of a cellular manufacturing system approach for the sewing department of a sportswear manufacturing company. The simulation study was designed, and the results of the proposed model showed improvements of 51,46% in the average flow time, 1102,52% in the average throughput, and 50,65% in the average setup times of machines, compared to the current state of the case study.