A model for the design of dedicated manufacturing cells

In this paper, a new cellular manufacturing design approach is proposed based on the concept of dedicated cells. This is based on the principle of assigning operation types (instead of part types) to the cells, so that all operations of the same type are carried out in the same cell with the clear benefits that this brings in terms of learning effect, better quality, etc. For the formation of these dedicated cells a non-linear parametric model is presented and solved using a metaheuristic algorithm. The computational and simulation experiments carried out, based on problems from the literature, confirm the validity of the model with respect to establishing the degree of dedication of the cells and its subsequent impact on a series of measures such as the average number of cells visited by a part, the average number of parts processed in each cell, the average number of machines per cell, etc.