Partitioning techniques for cellular manufacturing

Publisher Summary In this chapter, cellular manufacturing is introduced with its concepts, uses, and solution methodologies. A description of various traditional solution methodologies is given. In addition, the reasons for the need to analyze the solution of the group technology (GT) problem simultaneously with the machine assignment problem are discussed in the chapter. The techniques that allow this simultaneous solution are more effective in delivering good GT solutions. New solution techniques that take into consideration the effect of operation sequences while solving the GT machine assignment problem directly are discussed in the chapter. These results illustrate the effect of operation sequences on the machine assignment and demonstrate the improvement in the GT assignment. GT is an organizational technique that seeks to improve manufacturing productivity by finding part-families and machine cells that form self-sufficient units of production with a certain amount of functional autonomy that results in easier control. Cellular manufacturing (CM) is the application of GT principles to production. The chapter details the traditional solution methodologies—graph-based techniques, matrix techniques, integer programming techniques, and constraints considered in group technology. In the case of graph representations, the machines are denoted by nodes, the connection between the machines is denoted by arcs (edges), and the weights are the number of parts moving from one machine to another. When studying the GT problem, researchers have attempted to consider several constraints on the final solution. This chapter discusses some of these constraints.