An Electromagnetism-Like Mechanism Method for Solving Dynamic Cell Formation Problems

Abstract

This study develops a durable cell formation model for simultaneous multi-period manufacturing situations. The model combines group efficacy and efficacy variance for the purpose of maximizing group efficacy for each period, as well as minimizing efficacy variance in all periods. Due to the fact that dynamic cell Formation is a NP-hard problem, this study uses an electromagnetism-like mechanism to solve the problem. The results show that while the proposed method may not achieve the maximum efficacy for each period, it can obtain better objective function value in multi-period circumstances and maintain a good variation balance in all periods.