Production Flow Analysis for Planning Group Technology

This book is being reissued in paperback to coincide with the publication of Burbidge's new book, Period Batch Control. In recent years there has been much effort directed towards a critical examination and reappraisal of traditional methods in manufacturing plants. Group technology and production flow analysis have emerged from this reappraisal as one of the major strategic tools available to manufacturing analysts. Instead of basing the classification and coding of parts into families by analysing design drawings, production flow analysis creates families by analysing 'route cards' showing how parts are made. Using this method, one achieves both a total division of made components into families and a parallel total division of the existing machines into groups, using the existing established processing methods. The methods explained in this book are eminently practical and easy to understand.