NETWORK FLOW PROCEDURES FOR THE ANALYSIS OF CELLULAR MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

A three-phase network-flow-based procedure is developed for minimizing intercellular part moves in machine-part grouping problems. The uniqu e feature of this methodology is its consideration of several variatio ns related to the number of cells, the number of machines in each cell , and the part family size. The first phase computes a functional rela tionship between machines on the basis of either a machine-part matrix or actual operation sequences for the parts being considered. The fin al purpose of this phase is a network modeling of the problem. The sec ond phase partitions the network according to mutually exclusive sets of nodes that represent manufacturing cells. A 0-1 integer programming model and a 0-1 quadratic programming model are discussed and network -flow-based solution procedures are developed. Finally, the third phas e identifies the part families. A 0-1 integer programming model is for mulated and the solution of this model is again performed through a ne twork approach that allows the identification of a feasible assignment of parts to machine cells. Computational results indicate that the pr oposed approach is appropriate for solving large-scale industrial prob lems efficiently.