Cellular manufacturing applications in MRO operations

Cellular manufacturing delivers improvements in productivity, lead time and quality. Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) customers require shorter turn-around-times and reductions in price. The application of cellular manufacturing concepts offers the potential to deliver Original Equipment manufacturing levels of productivity improvement and lead time reductions to MRO operations. Six businesses that practice MRO operations were evaluated to establish the extent and benefits of the application of cell manufacturing techniques to MRO operations. They all reported benefits in turn-around-time and operational performance. All businesses also noted that the difficulties associated with implementation and management of cellular MRO systems related to the variability of input conditions. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.