In cellular manufacturing, manufacturing cells are designed based on the assumption that only one machine is used for a particular operation. However, there can be alternative machines to process an operation. In this article, a fuzzy-set-based machine-cell formation algorithm for cellular manufacturing is presented. The fuzzy logic is employed to express the degree of appropriateness when alternative machines are specified to process a part shape. For machine grouping, the similarity-coefficient-based approach is used. The algorithm produces efficient machine cells and part families, which maximize the similarity values. This algorithm can also be used when the intercellular movement costs should be minimized. A numerical example is given to illustrate this approach.
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Leem, CW., Chen, J.JG. Fuzzy-set-based machine-cell formation in cellular manufacturing. J Intell Manuf 7, 355–364 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123911
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00123911