Optimal Design of Manufacturing Cells Considering Machine Usage Percentage

Abstract

This paper demonstrates an exclusive design methodology in Cellular Manufacturing (CM) considering machine usage percentage as ratio data. This research correctly emphasized the fundamental of ratio data and proposed a novel and precise mathematical formulation of the design problem. This multi-objective model carefully optimizes the total exceptional utilization (TEU), number of voids and total cell utilization (TCU). Due to the novelty in the model, a new data generation technique is proposed. The test datasets are obtained and tested using IBM CPLEX tool successfully. The contribution of this research is twofold. First, the ratio data concept is correctly emphasized and a precise mathematical model is developed. Second, since the model is new and datasets are not readily available, therefore a dedicated data generation model is proposed.