This paper presents a dynamic cellular manufacturing system (DCMS) tha
t sustains the turbulent environment of small make-to-order manufactur
ers and subcontractors. The DCMS exploits the workstation moveableness
to reconfigure the cells. The system is composed of 4 modules; loadin
g and routing module, dynamic cell configurator, scheduling module and
system monitoring. The core of the DCMS is the cost based algorythm f
or dynamic cell configuration, its decision criteria are exclusively e
conomic and aim at minimizing the overall cost for transfering unit lo
ads and relocating workstations.