Production flow analysis for planning group technology
提出生产流分析方法，用于在现有批量生产工厂中规划向成组技术的转变，通过将零件分组消除回流，无需购买新设备。
Abstract Group technology (GT) is a method of organization for factories in which organizational units known as “groups” each complete a particular set or “family” of parts with no backflow, or crossflow between groups, and are equipped with all the facilities they need to do so. Production flow analysis (PFA) is a technique for planning the change to GT in existing batch and jobbing production factories. It finds a total division into groups, using the existing machines and methods to make the existing parts, without any need to buy additional machine tools. Because the change to GT is generally both possible (if PFA is used for planning) and profitable, process organization, in which organizational units specialize in particular processes, is now obsolete.