Title: Part feature selection and family design in group technology using a fuzzy approach

Authors: A.M.A. Al-Ahmari

Addresses: Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia

Abstract: This paper presents a feature selection approach for group technology (GT) applications using a fuzzy clustering approach to design useful part families for the related applications. Existing GT approaches use all part attributes to form part families, since the kind and amount of part information required are different form a single application to another in an organisation. This is because each GT application has its own requirements and goals. Therefore, there is a need for analysis tools, which enable the user to select the desired part information related to the selected application. In this paper, the concept of coding and classification approaches is used to extract fuzzy objects and variables required to design a new part family matrix. The proposed approach allows users flexibility in selecting and forming part families of GT applications. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate and validate the approach proposed.

Keywords: group technology; fuzzy analysis; coding; classification; part families; fuzzy clustering; fuzzy logic; feature selection; part family matrix; part family formation; GT; part features; component features.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2004.005938

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2004 Vol.21 No.3, pp.129 - 136

Published online: 30 Dec 2004 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article