The Expanded and Annotated My Life and Work

The Introduction of Cellular Manufacturing
The next part of this chapter shows unequivocally that Ford introduced 
what are now known as work cells: “A department is a little factory by 
itself.” This eliminated interdepartmental transportation, as might be 
identified from a modern spaghetti diagram.
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We started assembling a motor car in a single factory. Then as we began to 
make parts, we began to departmentalize so that each department would do 
only one thing. As the factory is now organized each department makes only 
a single part or assembles a part. A department is a little factory in itself. The