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The performance of cellular manufacturing (CM) systems has been rigorously investigated during the last two decades. The findings from these studies need to be systematically tabulated, given that they span a wide range of systems and experimental conditions. Some of the findings have also not been in agreement with the prescriptive literature on group technology (GT). No such survey of research exists to date. Attempts to fill the void by providing a taxonomy that categorizes these studies into simulation‐based, analytical and empirical studies. Also discusses past work in the context of various experimental factors and conditions, such as system configurations assumed, setup and operation times, scheduling rules, lot sizes and performance measures used. Summarizes major findings from each stream of literature from the point of view of both researchers and practitioners.