Limited flexibility in cellular manufacturing systems: A simulation study

Cellular manufacturing systems (CMSs) can be strongly affected by uncertainty. In this paper, some effects of the demand variability and resource dependability on the performance of a CMS are investigated. The use of routing flexibility is considered to search CMS configurations that optimize system performance. Referring to the concept of limited flexibility, a simulation model is proposed to analyze costs and benefits of routing flexibility in a CMS. Three problems are addressed and some results, in terms of cost and system performance, are provided by examples.