Group Technology

Job shop production System

Batch production System
Mass production System

GT

Group Technology
Group technology (GT) is a manufacturing philosophy that seeks to
improve productivity by grouping parts and products with similar
characteristics into families and forming production cells with a group of
dissimilar machines and processes.
The group of similar parts is known as part family and the group of
machineries used to process an individual part family is known as machine
cell. It is not necessary for each part of a part family to be processed by
every machine of corresponding machine cell.

Group Technology
Group technology begun by grouping parts into families, based on
their attributes (Geometry, manufacturing process ).
Geometric classification of families is normally based on size and
shape, while production process classification is based on the type,
sequence, and number of operations. The type of operation is
determined by such things as the method of processing, the method
of holding the part, the tooling.
There are three methods that can be used to form part families:
Manual visual inspection
Production flow analysis
Classification and coding
Manual visual inspection involves arranging a set of parts into
groups by visually inspecting the physical characteristics of the
parts.

Manual visual inspection

Part Family 1

Part Family 2

Production flow analysis: Parts that go

through common operations are grouped
into part families.
The machines used to perform these
common operations may be grouped as a
cell, consequently this technique can be
used in facility layout (factory layout)

Classification and Coding

Coding refers to the process of assigning symbols to the

parts
The symbols represent design attributes of parts or
manufacturing features of part families
Although well over 100 classification and coding systems
have been developed for group technology applications, all
of them can be grouped into three basic types:
Monocode or hierarchical code
Polycode or attribute
Hybrid or mixed code

MONOCODE (HIERARCHICAL CODE)

This coding system was originally developed for biological

classification in 18th century.

In this type of code, the meaning of each character is dependent on

the meaning of the previous character; that is, each character
amplifies the information of the previous character. Such a coding
system can be depicted using a tree structure

Fig. 1 Spur gear

Monocode of Fig. 1:
A-1-1-B-2

hierarchical code for the spur

gear (Fig. 1)

POLYCODE (ATTRIBUTE CODE):

The code symbols are independent of each
other
Each digit in specific location of the code
describes a unique property of the workpiece
it is easy to learn and useful in manufacturing
situations where the manufacturing process have to
be described
the length of a polycode may become excessive
because of its unlimited combinational features

POLYCODE (ATTRIBUTE CODE):

Polycode for the spur gear (Fig. 1): 22213

MIXED CODE (HYBRID CODE):

In reality, most coding systems use a hybrid (mixed) code so that

the advantages of each type of system can be utilized. The first digit
for example, might be used to denote the type of part, such as gear.
The next five position might be reserved for a short attribute code
that would describe the attribute of the gear. The next digit (7th digit)
might be used to designate another subgroup, such as material,
followed by another attribute code that would describe the attributes.