A pragmatic approach to machine and part grouping in cellular manufacturing system design

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Abstract
The paper presents an easy-to-use decision support tool for the designer of manufacturing systems who intends to implement Group Technology (GT) concepts. In related literature two main research schools can be identified: one considers conversion to cellular manufacturing as a compulsory step toward efficiency, whose benefits are quite independent from the solution approach; the other looks instead for optimal solutions by using operational research models. The proposed approach may be located halfway between the two: at first a multicriteria model evaluates the suitability of cellular manufacturing and of some of its variants with respect to the company's environment; in the second step a heuristic solution to the part and machine grouping problem is generated, taking a wide set of factors into account (safety, technological, organizational…). The tool has then been tested on an industrial case in order to prove its suitability for supporting the designer's decision process.

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