Dynamic cellular manufacturing design and its sensitivity analysis

Numbers of research papers have been dedicated for the design of cell formation which is NP-complete even under fairly restrictive conditions (Ballakur, 1985). In most of these design formulations, the demand for product-mix is considered to be independent of time. In practice, the demand is always varying with time. It is need of time that the manufacturing cell should be so configured that it can accommodate the fluctuation of demand of products with time. The effectiveness of a cellular manufacturing system is prone to fluctuations in the demand for products and the product-mix. This paper presents a solution approach that incorporates the dynamic nature of the production environment by considering a multi-period forecast of product-mix in the formation of part families and machine cells. An approach of solution methodology for formation of manufacturing cell and the effect of critical production parameters has been described in an uncertain product mix environment.