Manufacturing cell design with alternative routings in generalized group technology: reducing the complexity of the solution space

In the presence of alternative routings, the manufacturing cell design involves the solution of a large number of (simple) cell-formation problems. We present a bounding scheme which examines all combinations of alternative routings and solves only a few cell-formation problems, thereby limiting the solution space which is searched heuristically. This leads to increased reliability for the solutions obtained. The resulting algorithm is shown to be applicable for problems arising in practice frequently, when the initial design includes relatively few exceptional elements, and machine duplication and/or genuine multiple process plans are used correctively, to eliminate the remaining intercellular traffic.