A Concurrent Solution for Intra-Cell Serpentine Flow Path Layouts and I/O Point Locations in a Cellular Manufacturing System with a Straight Line Inter-Cell Flow Path

摘要

In a cellular manufacturing system, the location of a cell's I/O point affects not only the inter-cell flow distance, but also the intra-cell flow distance. Traditional approaches often only consider the inter-cell flow distance when locating a cell's I/O points. The objective of this study is to propose a layout solution procedure that can concurrently solve the I/O point location problem and the intra-cell flow-path layout problem of every cell in a cellular manufacturing system. In this study, we assume that cells have been arranged along a straight line inter-cell flow path. It is also assumed that, for each cell, some flow-line analysis technique has been applied to determine the machines' positions along the cell's intra-cell flow path, but the intra-cell flow path and the machines along it have not been placed on the cell's shop floor yet. It is furthered assumed that the configuration of the intra-cell flow path is confined to the serpentine configuration. The proposed method first classifies the flow distance incurred by inter-cell moves into five types, which are minimized by various linear programming models in the proposed solution procedure.