Lean manufacturing benefits include those from material handling. The illustrations of a functional and cellular layout vividly demonstrate many of these material handling benefits. Fewer moves, shorter travel distances, and simpler route structures add up to impressive savings. These characteristics also contribute to savings in inventory, coordination and quality.

The product-focused cellular layout has fewer interdepartmental moves compared to a functional equivalent. This reduces handling frequency and cost by as much as 90%. The cellular layout also reduces the queuing, delays, tracking effort, and confusion that accompany material movement.

Travel distances are shorter in the cellular layout. In addition to reducing the cost of long moves, this improves communication and often enables visual control systems.

Complex routings are characteristic of functional layouts. Many products and components visit multiple work centers in multiple sequences. This, in turn, necessitates complex process plans and extensive documentation. Cellular routings are simple.

Functional layouts have variable route structures since many products move in so many different directions. This necessitates costly handling devices such as fork trucks or Automated Guided Vehicles that can accommodate such variable route structures. The cellular layout, by contrast, has simpler and more stable route structures that may allow simple and cheap handling devices such as conveyors and chutes. 

Other Lean Manufacturing Benefits

Material Handling
Inventory & Scheduling
Quality Benefits
Benefits for People
Customer Benefits