Mathematical Programming Approaches to GT Cell Formation: A Comparative Study

This paper compares and evaluates the performances of the two types of mathematical programming models for solving the machine-part cell formation problem in group technology manufacturing : indirect formulation relying on surrogate measure such as similarity coefficient and direct formulation seeking to minimize the number of exceptional elements. New indirect formulation, called the generalized p-median model. is proposed. Unlike existing p-median formulations, proposed formulation includes the classical cell formation problem in which only one process plan exsits for each part as a special case. The proposed new formulation can also deal with the cell formation problem in which alternative process plans exist for a part. The indirect formulation is compared with a new direct formulation which needs much fewer extra variables and constraints than existing direct formulations. Some significant findings from comparative experiment are discussed.