Design of cellular manufacturing systems based on asymptotic forms of a boolean matrix

Abstract

Abstract The formation of cells is a vital aspect of the design of Cellular Manufacturing Systems. This paper addresses the problem using the concept of asymptotic forms of a Boolean matrix. It is shown that mutually independent cells for a given machine-component incidence matrix A exist if and only if B = A ∗ A T is not a primitive matrix. Based on asymptotic forms of a Boolean matrix, a method to identify machine cells and part families, in case mutually independent cells exist, is developed. The paper also includes an algorithm to identify the bottleneck machines and parts, when mutually independent cells do not exist. Finally, a general method that can be used by designeer of CMS to form mutually independent cells is presented.