Design of cellular production systems A graph-theoretic approach

SUMMARY

A method is presented for forming machine cells while implementing group technology. Information derived from the route cards of the components is analysed and the situation is represented in the form of a graph whose vertices correspond to the machines and whose edges represent the relationships created between the machines by the components using them. For finding the cells a graph partitioning approach is suggested and developed. Results obtained from testing the method using actual data are also presented.