Functional and distributed layouts and their effectiveness on capability-based Virtual Cellular Manufacturing systems performance

Although the formation of any Virtual Cellular Manufacturing System (VCMS), as a flexible layout, does not have any restriction regarding the current arrangement of machines, its performance is affected by different layout In this paper, Capability Based form of Virtual Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CBVCMSs) are generated through considering machines as the main constraining resource by a new multiobjective mathematical model and their effectiveness is evaluated over functional and distributed layouts. To find an optimum or near-to-optimum solution without any size-limitation of the problem, a multi-objective Tabu Search (TS) algorithm is proposed. The validity of the model and performance analyses of CBVCMSs over basic layouts is tested through benchmarking a numerical example. At the end, the efficacy of distributed layout for generating CBVCMS is illustrated because of its flexibility, minimizing the objective function of the developed mathematical model, less traveled distance by components of family groups, and acceptable capacity utilization. Moreover, the results illustrate the priority of CBVCMS in comparison to the original classical Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMSs) from the capacity utilization point of view.