SIMULTANEOUS GROUPING OF PARTS AND MACHINES IN CELLULAR MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS - AN INTEGER PROGRAMMING APPROACH

In this paper, a methodology is proposed to simultaneously group machines and parts in cellular manufacturing systems based on the tooling requirements of the parts, tools available on the machines and the processing times. Two non-linear 0-1 integer programming formulations are proposed. The first formulation forms machine-part groups on the basis of the compatibility of the parts with the machines. The second formulation groups the machines and the parts in order to seek a trade-off between the cost of duplicating the machines and the cost of intercell movement. The formulations take into account the limitations on the number of parts and machines in a group as well as the number of machine types available. The application of these formulations is illustrated using an example.