Designing cellular manufacturing systems considering S-shaped layout

• An integrated bi-objective cell formation and layout problem is addressed.
• A new framework based on a S-shaped layout is proposed for the layout of cellular manufacturing systems.
• The dimensions of machines, the horizontal and vertical aisle widths, and the width of the shop floor are considered in the layout problem.
• A hybrid solution method combining simulated annealing and dynamic programming algorithms is developed.
• The computational results show the advantages of the proposed approach and the good performance of the solution method.

In this paper, we present a new layout framework, called S-shaped layout, for the layout of cellular manufacturing systems. Based on the proposed S-shaped layout, we formulate an integrated bi-objective cell formation and layout problem, considering parameters such as part demands, operation sequences, machine dimensions and aisle widths. The first objective is to minimize the total inter- and intra-cell material handling costs. Also, the second objective is to maximize the total similarity between machines. A normalized weighted sum method is suggested to unify these objectives. As the problem is NP-hard, an efficient hybrid solution method combining simulated annealing and dynamic programming is developed to solve large-sized problems in a reasonable computational time. Finally, by solving numerical examples from the literature the suggested approach is compared with two recently developed approaches.