1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background of the study

Manufacturing system is a group of physical objects arranged to transform raw material into finished product. [Black, 1991] These physical objects include machines, tools, material
handling equipment and people. Along with the raw material, a manufacturing system also requires information (customer orders, current system status), capital (money, equipment, fixed
assets) and energy (labor, power, support resources) as inputs. The total output includes finished product, information, waste and profit. Manufacturing systems are affected by internal and
external disturbances, and can be evaluated by measuring its intrinsic parameters (cost, time, quantity, area). A production flow value stream is a way of mapping a manufacturing system.
“A value stream is all the actions (both value-added and non-value-added) currently required to bring a product through the main flows essential to every product: the production flow from raw material into the arms of the customer.” [Rother, Shook, 1998]. The customers of the manufacturing system are those who receive finished product from the system [Carrus, 2000].
Depending on how the system boundaries are defined, the customer of the manufacturing system value stream may be a retailer, a distribution channel, a processing plant, or a downstream
function in the same plant.

The production system includes the manufacturing system and all functions required for the support, operation and control of the manufacturing system. Maintenance, engineering, human
resources, accounting, sales and marketing are examples of resources that are part of the production system. Figure 2-1 shows a graphical representation of production systems. [adapted
from Cochran, 1994].
With the increase in complexity of manufacturing systems and processes, there is a growing need to bring together advances from different realms of manufacturing research. This trend is
motivated by many reasons including: products are more complex and tolerances tighter, manufacturers need to focus on multiple aspects of the manufacturing process to achieve the
required level of quality, and response times are decreasing from design to product. It is no longer adequate for manufacturers to focus on particular aspects of their process for improvement. Rather, they need to use a holistic approach for process improvement. This is especially the case as cost and time requirements for manufactured parts are getting progressively stringent. Lean manufacturing techniques are standard in most manufacturing practices these days, and inefficiencies in the manufacturing process are being addressed by
process and system improvements. Supply chains are getting more complex as well, and it is critical to improve the fractional value added time while making parts.

Manufacturing is the organized approach of the manufacturing process in which the production equipment is organized. Machines are organized into machine cells; each cell specializes in the manufacturing production of a part family. It is the subpart or the application of group technology. It is a manufacturing process, which is the subpart of JIT manufacturing and also lean manufacturing with group technology. The objective of cellular manufacturing is to move as quickly as possible, make varieties of similar products, producing waste in a little amount. This process includes multiple “cells” in an assembly line, and every cell has a machine or different numbers of machines that can do specific work. The exact part goes from a cell to the next cell, each station finishing part of the cellular manufacturing process. The total amount of flexibility is the primary outcome and the foremost advantage of the cellular manufacturing system. So, in this manufacturing process, the quick changeover is possible as the process is very much flexible in nature. The machines are automatic in this process so that a little change can be made quickly when needed.

Manufacturing is a beneficial approach for an industry as it can reduce the processing time, setup time, walking time of the workers. It is the managerial and also a practical approach for an industry or a factory, in which it can have a positive influence over the whole system. It can also reduce the total cost of the process of product making by reducing the cost of the entire procedure. In such an industry, where there are several types of operation, or several types of machinery are there, this manufacturing process is much better applicable to the economic perspective. By applying cellular manufacturing in an industry, the people involvement time is reduced. Also, the total productivity of an industry is increased day by day, including the overall net productivity per day and month. It can reduce the use of floor space in a factory. The main product is made by having simple sequences of similar kinds of operations and also segmenting the product and their parts into related categories efficiently. It can also reduce the unexpected delay time and even the time to need to take them into the next station. Group Technology (GT) is a technique of manufacturing in which the grouping of machines is done based on function (like producing parts or the products with similar characteristics) and then organized into cells to achieve a high level of repeatability.

1.2    Statement of the problem

The materials used to manufacture products are increasing in numbers and how advanced they are. Therefore there is need or more innovation and research of advanced materials, its processes and manufacturing technologies (Featherston, C. R.& O’Sullivan, E. 2014). Advanced manufacturing technologies in turn give additional requirements on the development of new materials. However, the development needs to be specified for different industrial sectors and products (Featherston, C. R.& O’Sullivan, E.2014).