PART FAMILY FORMATION BASED ON ALTERNATIVE ROUTES DURING MACHINE FAILURE

A number of research papers have used different types of similarity/di ssimilarity coefficients for determining part families. In cellular ma nufacturing systems, most machines are capable of performing more than one operation, which makes parts rerouting feasible. When a part is r erouted, it affects the cell performance. Most of the suggested approa ches in the literature develop a new similarity coefficient based on m athematical analysis, however, these methods tend to disregard alterna tive routes during machine failure. The main objective of this paper i s to identify part families based on a new similarity coefficient whic h considers the number of alternative routes available during machine failure. Based on the new similarity coefficient, the part families we re identified by using p-median model. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.