Group technology manufacturing systems and application to an engine factory

Group Technology (GT) is a technique used in each industry producing small batch sizes and various types of products. This technique has been based upon the fact that various parts a small quantities can be produced much more economically, if they are grouped according to their common or similar characteristics. GT is applied especially in industrial enterprises making workshop flow type and / or job shop type production. Various techniques have been developed on GT. GT has been used in many application areas for 20 years. Nowadays, the competitive markets forces enterprises to be productive. In our country in which the job shop type production is common, one of effective ways to increase productivity is the GT approach. In the first chapter of this thesis, general knowledge about production systems and GT is presented. In the second chapter, the elements of GT, grouping and coding parts and production flow analysis are described shortly. In the third chapter, some techniques and algorithms relating to the group design on GT are emphasized. In the last chapter, Rank Order Clustering Method Ranking improved by J.R. King is explained in detail and with an application about this method computer programming and its final output are also presented at the end of the thesis.