The Numbering and Taxonomy of Inventoried Items

Group technology has become an important and viable approach to manufacturing systems, and provides significant benefits in inventory management, production process flow, throughput efficiency, tooling, and purchasing. It focuses on classification systems as the main approach, as opposed to production flow analysis. Many firms try to use a code such as a GT code as a means of both classifying and identifying components. This article points to some of the pitfalls that accompany this practice, and advocates the use of independent systems—one for identification and others for classification; thus, separating these two functions.