A study for optional inspection policies in a flexible manufacturing cell

The objective of the paper is to determine the location of inspection stages in order to minimize the expected total manufacturing cost while satisfying the high-quality product demand of customers in a flexible manufacturing cell (FMC). This allows a designer to examine alternative designs in order to select those which are optimal, or near optimal, in manufacturing cost terms. To accomplish this objective, we have formulated a total manufacturing decision model consisting of machine set-up and processing costs. Inspection set-up and inspection costs, and cost due to defective. A case study and sensitivity analysis are presented to demonstrate the application of the decision model developed.