Grouping Operations In Cellular Manufacturing Considering Alternative Routings And The Impact Of Run Length On Product Quality

摘要

When a production lot is split into alternative routes, the production run in each route will be shortened. Merging sub-lots from different alternative routes to one selected route will result in a longer production run in the selected route. Such variation in product run length could have impacts on product quality. The paper formulates a mathematical programming model for optimal lot splitting into alternative routes to account for the impact of production run length on product quality in a cellular manufacturing environment. A genetic algorithm is developed to solve the proposed model efficiently. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the features of the proposed model and computational efficiency of the solution method. It further proposes extensions of the developed model and solution procedure to consider cell formation decisions when the impact of splitting production lots into alternative routes on product quality is considered.