Problem space search algorithm for manufacturing cell formation with alternative process plans

Abstract

This paper describes an application of state space search for simultaneous formation of manufacturing cells and selection of process plans for parts with alternative plans. The algorithm performs space search with two simultaneous decisions: selection of process plan for parts between several alternatives, and assignment of parts and required machines to manufacturing cells. Several criteria for decision-making may be introduced into this procedure: intercellular traffic, size of the machine cells, ratio of state space expansion, and so on. The effect of this simultaneous decision-making on the computation resources (memory and time) necessary to perform the space search has been studied in this paper. The algorithm based on classification of machines and application of space search to recursively assign sorted machines, and parts to cells, has been studied with several decision making criteria. Performance of the algorithm is evaluated with respect to the quality of the obtained solution (as compared with different algorithms on the same problem) and with recording of the necessary memory and time to generate the solution. The conclusions from this experiment are presented and suggestions on suitability of criteria provided.