Cell formation and layout designs in a cellular manufacturing environment – a case study

This paper presents the application of a recent integrated approach for the design of cellular manufacturing, addressing, concurrently, all three phases of the design – namely parts/machines grouping, intra-cell and inter-cell layout designs – to a white-goods manufacturing company. It provides a platform to investigate the impact of the cell formation method on intra-cell and inter-cell layout designs, and vice versa, by generating multiple efficient layout designs for different cell partitioning strategies. This approach enables the decision-maker to have wider choices with regard to the different numbers of cells and to assess various criteria such as travelling cost, duplication of machines and space requirement against each alternative.