A novel approach to determine cell formation, intracellular machine layout and cell layout in the CMS problem based on TOPSIS method

This paper deals with the cellular manufacturing system (CMS) that is based on group technology (GT) concepts. CMS is defined as identifying the similar parts that are processed on the same machines and then grouping them as a cell. The most proposed models for solving CMS problems are focused on cell formation and intracellular machine layout problem while cell layout is considered in few papers. In this paper we apply the multiple attribute decision making (MADM) concept and propose a two-stage method that leads to determine cell formation, intracellular machine layout and cell layout as three basic steps in the design of CMS. In this method, an initial solution is obtained from technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) and then this solution is improved. The results of the proposed method are compared with well-known approaches that are introduced in literature. These comparisons show that the proposed method offers good solutions for the CMS problem. The computational results are also reported.