CM/SP 2013 - International Workshop on Lean, Cellular Manufacturing & Seru Production (CM/SP)

As a core concept and tool of lean production, cellular manufacturing (CM) has been widely researched in the past 30 years. Many organizations have applied CM concepts in manufacturing and service processes. While cells are converted from job shops, serus are converted from assembly lines.
Since 1991, seru production (SP, or called as Japanese assembly cell), has successfully been adopted in electronics, auto components, and other industries throughout Asia. Seru is an extension of Just-in-time (JIT) philosophy to organization (Stecke 2012). SP has been called the next generation of lean in Asia for several years, but is not widely known outside Asia (Liu 2013). Seru is developed to prosper in a volatile market with shorter product life-cycles, uncertain product types, and fluctuating production volumes (sometimes mass, sometimes batch, and sometimes very small volumes). Asian manufacturing giants like Sony, Canon, Panasonic, and Samsung have dismantled assembly conveyor lines and adopted SP, which can efficiently and effectively respond to customer requirements in a volatile market. Seru is also a new approach for mass customization. Seru has many benefits. It can reduce lead time, setup time, WIP inventories, finished-product inventories, cost, required workforce, and shop floor space. Seru also influences profits, product quality, and workforce motivation in a positive way. For example, by applying seru, Canon's average productivity became much higher than that of Toyota.
The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum for exchanging the latest developments in the field of CM/SP. A special focus is to highlight the similarities and differences between seru with machining and assembly cell. The workshop will also bring researchers and practitioners together to obtain synergy between scientific developments and empirical experiences and needs.