Simulation investigation of the stochastic behaviour of selected group technology similarity coefficients

Abstract

Abstract. The problem of restructuring manufacturing facilities into a cellular format has been addressed using a variety of approaches, including block-diagonalization of the machine-component matrix, mathematical programming formulations and cluster analyses. This paper addresses the problem of assessing whether or not the machine-component mix of a particular facility is amenable to cellular restructuring. The focus is cluster analytic; specifically a number of recently developed similarity coefficients are applied to problems generated via Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that, in a number of cases, the quality of the original block diagonal structure had a significant effect on the shape (in particular, skewncss and kurtosis) of the distribution of similarity coefficient values.

Notes

KATHLEEN M. HARRIGAN is Senior Associate Programmer at IBM, Kingston, New York. She received her BBA (1986) in Accounting from Siena College, Loudonville, New York and an MS in Management Systems (MIS concentration) (1987) at Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York. She published a paper reporting the research of her masters thesis in the proceedings of the 1988 national Decision Sciences meeting. Her research interests include group technology and cellular manufacturing.

CHARLES T. MOSIER is Associated Professor of Management at Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York. He received a BS (1972) in Industrial Distribution from Clarkson, an MA (1977) in Mathematics from Potsdam College, and a PhD (1983) in Business Administration from the Uni versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has published papers in Management Science, Interfaces, International Journal of Production Research, OMEGA, Journal of Operations Management, and a variety of texts and professional meeting proceedings. His currenl research and consulting interests include cellular manufacturing, group scheduling, manufacturing information systems design and computer integrated manufacturing. He is currently engaged on a number of projects including: the development of a Group Technology oriented end-of-arm tooling design coding and retrieval system (supported by Xerox Corporation), and a simulation investigation of automated material handling systems in the cleanroom environment (supported by IBM Corporation).