An adaptive genetic algorithm for manufacturing cell formation

An adaptive genetic approach is proposed as an effective means of providing the optimal solution to the manufacturing cell formation problem in the design of cellular manufacturing systems. The proposed approach generates the optimal formation of machine cells and part families by sequencing the rows and columns of a machine-part incidence matrix, so as to maximise the bond energy of the incidence matrix. In order to enhance the performance of the genetic search process, an adaptive scheme is adopted, so that the genetic parameters can be adjusted during the genetic search process. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated by applying it to two numerical examples and 11 benchmark problems obtained from the literature. The computational results show that the proposed approach provides a powerful but simple means of solving the manufacturing cell formation problem and thus facilitates the design of cellular manufacturing systems.