A comparison between two cellular manufacturing systems namely; connected and disconnected systems have been studied in order to evaluate the performance of each system with respect to certain performance criteria. Two cases have been considered namely: Make to Order and Make to Stock environment. In the make to order case, a sub case with different process routings for each family has been considered. Simulation models for each of the systems and each of the cases were developed in ARENA 7.0 simulation software. The data used to model each of these systems were obtained from a medical products manufacturer for a maximum period of nineteen months. The models were run 24 hours a day which basically represented 3 shifts round the clock. It was expected that the disconnected system which had a higher flexibility would perform better in both cases. The results obtained indicate that for case 1, connected system performed better than disconnected system in most of the comparisons made. Also, an increase in routing flexibility resulted in lower flowtimes and work in process depending on the cellular design of the system. In case 2 for the make to stock environment, the disconnected system performed better than the connected system with lower finished goods inventory and lower overall inventory.