A comparison of two approaches for designing line type cellular manufacturing systems

Compares two approaches for designing production line cellular manufacturing systems, or “focused factories”. Production line manufacturing cells are dedicated to producing a set of similar products with machines that are arranged in a serial production line within the cell. Approach A requires the processing of batches of products in only one manufacturing cell, while approach B allows batches of product to be split and made simultaneously in different cells. Both design approaches consist of three stages. The first stage determines the best part routings among alternate routings to minimize the operating cost. At the second stage, a specific number of cells is obtained by using an ART1 neural network‐based cell formation module in approach A and a fuzzy rank order clustering (fuzzy ROC) module in approach B. At the third stage, production sequence is considered to find the best layout with lowest material handling cost. An example demonstrates that both approaches are effective in designing production line cellular manufacturing systems. Approach B gives a lower operating cost but a higher material handling cost than approach A. Both approaches should be analysed and compared, since the best approach depends on the operating and material handling costs for the application.