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.