An Integer Linear Programming Approach for the Combined Cell Layout Problem

The Combined Cell Layout Problem aims to minimize the material handling costs in a cellular manufacturing system with at least two cells where processing occurs, and in the presence of pieces that need to be processed in more than one cell. The alignment of the machines in each cell can follow a row or a circular layout. We propose an Integer Linear Programming approach for solving this problem. In a computational study we show that our approach is able to solve instances with up to 240 machines arranged in 10 cells to optimality within one minute.