Despite the increasing popularity of cellular manufacturing, by now a firmly entrenched approach to factory work organization, the number of large-scale systematic studies aimed at investigating issues surrounding implementation is still relatively sparse. This paper reports on a survey study of plants involved with cellular manufacturing. A target population of high-probability users received mail questionnaires designed to collect responses related to characteristics of industry cells and the firms that have implemented them (a companion paper, based on the same survey data, describes procedures and issues in cell design). Forty-six plants supplied detailed data on 126 of their cells, including reasons for establishing them, types of operations performed in the cells, problems faced and lessons learned during implementation, and achieved performance improvements. This study provides confirming evidence that manufacturing cells, which may house a large variety and many combinations of processes, can provide substantial benefits with respect to strategic dimensions such as manufacturing lead time, customer response time and quality. It also supports the notion that implementing cellular manufacturing is not merely an issue of rearranging the factory layout, but more importantly an issue that involves and affects the organizational and human aspects of the manufacturing firm.