This paper presents a general design methodology for manufacturing cells. The approach makes use of the observation that 85% of the production demand of a manufacturing facility can be attributed to 15% of the products manufactured in the facility. This logic was extended to manufacturing cell design. Specifically, within a part family, those parts that have a high steady demand should be placed in cells that are configured and operated similar to a flow line. Those part numbers within the family that have little demand should be assigned to cells designed to operate more as a job shop. In this way, a manufacturing cell that is designed to serve both the high and low demand components will not be impeded by imposed constraints resulting from demand or processing time considerations for individual parts within the family. The author presents a ten step approach for analysis and design of such cells after initial machine-component groupings have been formed. © 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.