A modified network approach for the design of cellular manufacturing systems

In considering the operation sequence constraints in manufacturing systems, the cell formation problem is modelled by an undirected graph (network) 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 cells is minimal. Algorithm 2 is a simplified version of algorithm 1 by selecting seed nodes in partitioning the network to further reduce the amount of computation. Although algorithm 2 does not guarantee that the intercell movements are minimal, a very good solution can still be obtained by using it. When this method is extended it is also applicable to situations where operation sequence constraints are ignored. The proposed method provides more effective solutions than some other heuristic methods.