A clustering approach for minimizing intercell trips in cell formation

Excessive intercell trips in a cellular manufacturing system may minimize the benefits that the system can provide. Hence, this research develops a non-linear integer formula to reduce intercell trips in a cell type system design. A clustering algorithm is then developed to obtain a satisfactory solution to the proposed cell formulation problem. To determine the performance of the proposed clustering algorithm, comparisons are made with an Exhaustive Search (ES) algorithm to show the relative optimality.