Implementation of Cellular Manufacturing Systems in Garments Industry: A Case study

Layout design and the flow of materials have a significant impact on performance of manufacturing system (garments industry) .These can help to increase productivity, reduce work in process and inventory, short production lead time, streamlines the flow of materials, cost and reduce non value added activities from the production process of waiting and transportation, which make the factory meet customers requirement quickly. There are many types of layout design in manufacturing system such as process layout, product layout and cellular layout. A process layout is suitable for high degree of interdepartmental flow and little intradepartmental flow.it is proper for low-volume, high variety environment. On the other hand, a product layout is used for high-volume, low-variety environment. A cellular layout is suggested for medium-volume and medium-variety environment. This kind of layout is also appropriate for both automated and non-automated manufacturing systems. This is an attempt to increase the efficiency of garments industry, by introducing sub-cell concept also changing existing plant layout to the new layout. The research proposes a method for introducing cellular manufacturing in an operating sewing floor. By applying cellular manufacturing system to produce garments, a factory can reduce costs and improve quality and time .The new sub-cell concept changes the organizational culture and makes the production lines more flexible. The conclusions of the research highlight the key lessons for successful design and implementation of cellular manufacturing in a sewing floor. KEYWORDS— Layout, garments, Cellular