An integrated framework for reconfiguration of cellular manufacturing systems using virtual cells

Abstract

Reconfiguration of manufacturing systems is discussed and an integrated framework which is mainly based on multiple objective simulation optimization is proposed for reconfiguration of manufacturing cells. The possibility of using virtual (logical) cells as a reconfiguration strategy in order to achieve performance targets of manufacturing cells facing changing production requirements is investigated. Creation of virtual cells is decided based on the overall performance of the system that is determined by the proposed integrated framework. In the framework generic capability units which are known as Resource Elements (RE) are used to define processing capabilities of virtual cells and processing requirements

Keywords:

• Virtual Cells
• Resource Elements
• Tabu Search