A MODIFIED NETWORK APPROACH FOR THE DESIGN OF CELLULAR MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

In considering the operation sequence constraints in manufacturing sys tems, the cell formation problem is modelled by an undirected graph (n etwork) in this paper. Two efficient algorithms are presented based on this model. Algorithm 1 partitions the network by finding the minimum cut sets in the network so that the resultant interaction between cel ls is minimal. Algorithm 2 is a simplified version of algorithm 1 by s electing seed nodes in partitioning the network to further reduce the amount of computation. Although algorithm 2 does not guarantee that th e intercell movements are minimal, a very good solution can still be o btained by using it. When this method is extended it is also applicabl e to situations where operation sequence constraints are ignored. The proposed method provides more effective solutions than some other heur istic methods.