Algorithms for grouping machine groups in group technology

Group technology (GT) is an approach to increase productivity in manufacturing. The basic concept of GT is to exploit the similarity between parts and manufacturing processes. Parts similar in design and manufacture are grouped into families. Then machines are identified to process part families. The problem can be modelled in two different approaches in cluster analysis: matrix formulation and mathematical programming formulation. In this paper, the application of cluster analysis in group technology is reviewed. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of selected clustering algorithms for matrix formulation. A comparison of several mathematical programming models is also given.