A machine cell formation algorithm for simultaneously minimising machine workload imbalances and inter-cell part movements

This paper considers a multi-objective machine cell problem, in which part types have several alternative part routings and the expected annual demand of each part type is known. This problem is characterised as optimally determining part type (routing) sets and corresponding machine cells such that total inter-cell part movements and total machine workload imbalances are simultaneously minimised. Due to the complexity of the problem, a two-stage heuristic algorithm is proposed, and computational experiments were conducted to verify the performance of the algorithm.