Title: Restructuring of a plant production layout by using different array-based clustering techniques

Authors: Girija Moona; Anil Kumar; Harish Kumar

Addresses: CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India ' CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India ' CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K.S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India

Abstract: This paper deals with restructuring of plant production layout by using two different clustering technique algorithms, namely rank order clustering (ROC) and genetic algorithm (GA) for manufacturing cell formation, with a real-life example to identify the effectiveness of the two clustering techniques. The objective is to cluster the machines and parts in such a manner, so that the advantages of cellular manufacturing systems/group technology are attained in terms of optimisation of setup time, reduction of material handling and reduction of total manufacturing lead time. A comparative study is done between the conventional layout and restructured layouts. The results obtained show that with ROC the total setup time for all 13 parts is reduced by 56%, total distance travelled during material handling is reduced by 56% and total lead time for all 13 parts is reduced by 20% as compared to the conventional layout, while with GA the total setup time for all 13 parts is reduced by 67%, the total distance travelled during material handling is reduced by 62% and total lead time for all 13 parts is reduced by 25% as compared to the conventional layout.

Keywords: layout restructuring; cellular manufacturing systems; CMS; part families; machine cells; exceptional elements; lead times; cell layout; array-based clustering; rank order clustering; ROC; genetic algorithms; manufacturing cells; cell formation; setup times; materials handling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2016.081301

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2016 Vol.8 No.3, pp.153 - 167

Received: 12 Sep 2015
Accepted: 08 Aug 2016

Published online: 03 Jan 2017 *

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