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How many workers are usually in a manufacturing work cell, and how are they trained?
AFive to ten, each trained to do any of the steps
BFifty to one hundred, each trained on one machine
CTwo to three, each trained only in inspection work
DTwenty to thirty, each trained by an outside firm
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Five to ten, each trained to do any of the steps
1. A work cell has to complete all or most of a manufacturing order by itself.
2. That is only possible if the cell is small enough for its members to work as one team.
3. There are usually five to ten workers in a cell.
4. Each of them is trained to be able to do any of the steps in the production process.
5. Broad training is what lets the cell absorb the whole order without handing work outside.
6. Option B describes a conventional line where each worker is a specialist, which is the arrangement cellular manufacturing was designed to replace.
_Source: OpenStax Introduction to Business (CC BY 4.0), Ch 10 "Achieving World-Class Operations Management", section Cellular Manufacturing: A Start-to-Finish Focus_
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