ellular manufacturing principles, applied to either administrative work or production, are fundamental building blocks for lean and quick response organizations. Reorganizing the Factory is the definitive reference book in this important area.

The book will serve as a field-guide for companies who are looking to increase throughput, decrease cost, reduce inventories and lead-times. Many books I have read have merely touched upon the subject of cellular manufacturing, which on the surface appears to be an easy concept to grasp. However, as any brown field practitioner will tell you, cell implementation is destined for failure or mediocre results without an understanding of the cultural and systemic changes required to enable and sustain the gains. In Reorganizing the Factory, Hyer and Wemmerlöv have decoded the DNA of cellular manufacturing to ensure maximum results and sustainability.

Reorganizing work processes into cells has helped many organizations streamline operations, shorten lead times, increase quality, and lower costs. Cellular manufacturing is a powerful concept that is simple to understand; however, its ultimate success depends on deciding where cells fit into your organization, and then applying the know-how to design, implement and operate them.

Reorganizing the Factory presents a thoroughly researched and comprehensive “life cycle” approach to competing through cellular work organizations. It takes you from the basic cell concept and its benefits through the process of justifying, designing, implementing, operating, and improving this new type of work organization in offices and on the factory floor.

The book discusses many important technical dimensions, such as factory analysis, cell design, planning and control systems, and principles for lead time and inventory reduction. However, unique to the literature, it also covers in depth the numerous managerial issues that accompany organizing work into cells. In most implementations, performance measurement, compensation, education and training, employee involvement, and change management are critically important. These issues are often overlooked in the planning process, yet they can occupy more of the implementation time than do the technical aspects of cells.

Includes:

• Why do cells improve lead time, quality, and cost?
  
• Planning for cell implementation
• Justifying the move to cells, strategically and economically
• Designing efficient manufacturing and office cells
• Selecting and training cell employees
• Compensation system for cell employees
• Performance and cost measurement
• Managing the change to cells
• Problems in designing, implementing, and operating cells
• Improving and adapting existing cells
• Structured frameworks and checklists to help analysis and decision-making
• Numerous examples of cells in various industries

— Don Gogan, Plant Manager, Harley-Davidson Motor Company

"There is a new book, Reorganizing the Factory, that makes "Learning to See" and “Value Stream Mapping" dated! Reorganizing the Factory is a great hands-on book with hardly any fluff! Buy it, read it, and embark on your "lean journey."

— Shahrukh Irani, Associate Professor, The Ohio State University

"This is a must read for organizations who want to use Cellular Manufacturing to gain competitive advantage. In addition to "hard" cell design issues, the book focuses as well on the "soft" side of cells, which we have found to be the largest determinants of the success (or failure) of cells."

— Michael Wayman, General Manager-Steel Operations, Ingersoll Cutting Tools

— Ronald Leong, Manager-Global Business Planning, Delphi Automotive Systems

— Nallan Suresh, Professor, SUNY-Buffalo

Nancy Lea Hyer is Associate Professor of Management at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Nancy was Operations Research Manager at Hewlett-Packard’s Network Measurements Division. In that capacity she played a leadership role in cell education and worked with various HP teams in designing and implementing cell-based manufacturing. She has also worked with many other organizations on the same issues. Dr. Hyer earned her B. A. degree from University of Richmond and her MBA and Ph.D. from Indiana University. Visit Dr. Hyer on the web at http://mba.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/nlhyer.cfm.

Urban Wemmerlöv is the Kress Family Wisconsin Distinguished Professor at the School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he directs the Erdman Center for Manufacturing and Technology Management. His teaching and research focus on cellular manufacturing, change management, and planning and control systems. Many of his over 80 publications are on the design and operation of cells. Dr. Wemmerlöv holds a B.S. in Business, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a doctorate in Production Management (all from Lund University, Sweden), and an M.S. in IEOR (from the University of California-Berkeley). He is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute and a certified fellow (CFPIM) of the American Production and Inventory Control Society. Visit Dr. Wemmerlöv on the web at http://www.wisc.edu/erdman.