Optimization of Inter Cellular Movement of Parts in Cellular Manufacturing System Using Genetic Algorithm

In the modern manufacturing environment, Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMS) have gained greater importance in job shop or batch-type production to gain economic advantage similar to those of mass production. Successful implementation of CMS highly depends on the determination of part families; machine cells and minimizing inter cellular movement. This study considers machine component grouping problems namely inter-cellular movement and cell load variation by developing a mathematical model and optimizing the solution using Genetic Algorithm to arrive at a cell formation to minimize the inter-cellular movement and cell load variation. The results are presented with a numerical example.