Formation of machine cells and part families in cellular manufacturing: a linear integer programming approach

A linear zero-one integer programming approach is proposed to solve the machine-cell/part-family formation problem for designing cellular manufacturing systems. Given a machine-part incidence matrix that contains process routing information, a similarity coefficient is derived for each pair of machines/parts. The proposed linear zero-one integer programming approach seeks to maximize similarity coefficients of machines/parts subject to an upper bound on the number of machines/parts in each machine cell/part family and a constraint on the number of machine cells/part families. The solutions to the machine-cell/part-family formation problem based on different definitions of similarity coefficients are discussed.<>