Design of cellular manufacturing systems: An invited review

http://bioinformatics.cs.vt.edu/~easychair/SOM/Kiang_CompStatDataAnal_2001.pdf

Extending the Kohonen self-organizing map networks for clustering analysis

A comparative evaluation of nine well-known algorithms for solving the cell formation problem in group technology

SUMMARY In this research, a genetic algorithm based solution approach is proposed to address the machine cell-part grouping problem. Three different objective functions considered are (1) minimize total moves (intercell as well as intracell moves), (2) minimize cell load variation, and (3) minimize both the above objective functions simultaneously. The total moves are determined as the weighted sum of both intercell and intracell moves. In the second objective function, cell load variation is minimized to aid the smooth flow of materials inside each cell and is obtained by computing the difference between the workload on the machine and the average load on the cell. The utilization of the workstations in a cell is evaluated and used in determining the best machine cell-part grouping. Furthermore, the sequence of operations and the impact of the layout of cells are also considered. We show that the results of the genetic algorithm based approach are comparatively better than the known results. The developm...

A genetic algorithm-based approach to cell composition and layout design problems

The design of a cellular manufacturing system requires that a part population, at least minimally described by its use of process technology (part/machine incidence matrix), be partitioned into part families and that the associated plant equipment be partitioned into machine cells. At the highest level, the objective is to form a set of completely autonomous units such that inter-cell movement of parts is minimized. We present an integer program that is solved using a genetic algorithm (GA) to assist in the design of cellular manufacturing systems. The formulation uses a unique representation scheme for individuals (part/machine partitions) that reduces the size of the cell formation problem and increases the scale of problems that can be solved. This approach offers improved design flexibility by allowing a variety of evaluation functions to be employed and by incorporating design constraints during cell formation. The effectiveness of the GA approach is demonstrated on several problems from the literature.

R. Venugopal

Papers

Design of a cellular manufacturing system: A syntactic pattern recognition approach