Facilities Design and Cellular Manufacturing

Rakesh Nagi's Research Page

•Description
•Grant Support
•Personnel
•Papers and Talks

Description

This research is has produced a number of practical methods for the design or redesign of cellular manufacturing facilities, including:

Cell formation with important practical issues (e.g., direct reduction of inter-cell material handling effort, sequence of operations in the routing, alternative routings, multiple functionally identical machines, finite work-center capacities, set-up families, random product demand, etc.)

Cell and shop layout for designing cells and placing them on the available shop-floor area

Material handling flow path (aisle) design for finite capacity material handling on aisle and fixed construction costs

In this work, we consider the design of material handling flow paths in a discrete part manufacturing facility. A fixed-charge capacitated network design model is developed and two efficient heuristics are proposed to determine near-optimal solutions to the resulting NP-hard problem. These heuristics are tested against an implicit enumeration scheme used to obtain optimal solutions for small examples. For more realistic cases, the solutions of the heuristics are compared to lower bounds obtained by i) the linear programming relaxation of the mixed integer program, and ii) an iterative dual ascent algorithm. The results indicate that the heuristics provide good solutions in reasonable time on the average. The proposed methodology is applied to design the flow paths of an existing manufacturing facility. Finally, the role of the flow paths in the integrated shop design problem is discussed.

Design of Hybrid Type facilities that are part cellular and part functional, and may be the best solution when redesigning a functional shop to take advantages of cellular manufacturing.

Here a comprehensive method for the design of hybrid-type production shops that comprise both manufacturing cells and individual workcenters is developed. It targets the minimization of the material handling effort within the shop and comprises four basic steps: (1) identification of candidate manufacturing cells, (2) evaluation and selection of the cells to be implemented, (3) determination of the intra-cell layout, and (4) determination of the shop layout. For the cell formation step the ICTMM technique has been enhanced to cater for important practical issues. The layout of each significant cell is determined by a simulated annealing (SA)-based algorithm. Once the sizes and shapes of the selected cells are known, the shop layout is determined by a similar algorithm. The resulting hybrid shop consists of the selected cells and the remaining machines. The methodology has been impleme nted in an integrated software system and has been applied to redesign the shop of a large manufacturer of radar antennas.

Grant Support

1.    "Operations Analysis and Plant Layout/Facilities Redesign Studies," Ferro Electronics Materials, Niagara Falls, NY; $9,943 (Feb. 2001 – March 2001); co-PI Rajan Batta; One student supported.
2.    "Production Operational Assessment," Gaymar Industries, Orchard Park, NY with SPIR/TCIE; $11,549 (July 2000); co-PI Victor Paquet.
3.    International supplement "Facility Layout (Re)Design Using Planar and Network Location Approaches," (see item 9) National Science Foundation, DMII Operations Research and Production Systems program, $14,000, (June 2000 - December 2000); co-Principal Investigator Rajan Batta.
4.    REU supplement "Aisle Capacity Modeling in Layout Analysis," (see item 9) National Science Foundation, DMII Operations Research and Production Systems program, $10,000, (June 1999 - May 2000); co-Principal Investigator Rajan Batta. Two undergraduate students supported.
5.    "Operational Analysis and Facility Redesign Studies," Republic Drug Company, Buffalo, NY with SPIR/TCIE; $13,534 (May – July 1999); Two students supported.
6.    "Operational Analysis and Facility Design Studies," Imaging and Sensing Technology, Horseheads, NY with SPIR/TCIE; $17,042 (October – December 1998); Two students supported.
7.    "Operational Assessment: Facility Layout and Process Flow," Milward Alloys Inc., Lockport, NY with SPIR/TCIE; $10,239 (August – September 1998); One students supported.
8.    "Facility Design and Automation," A Lunt Design Inc., Orchard Park, NY with SPIR/TCIE; $6,518 (April -May 1998); One student supported.
9.    "Facility Layout (Re)Design Using Planar and Network Location Approaches," National Science Foundation, DMII Operations Research and Production Systems program, $265,507, (June 1998 - May 2001); co-Principal Investigator Rajan Batta (PI). Two students supported.
10.    "Facility Design Simulation Studies," Graphic Controls Corp., Buffalo, NY with SPIR/TCIE; $21,070 (February-March 1998); co-PI Rajan Batta. Four students supported.
11.    "Facility Layout for High-bay Assembly and Sheet-Metal Areas," Gemcor Inc., West Seneca, NY through TCIE; $6,057 (August 1997). One student supported in summer.
12.    "Layout and Productivity Improvements at AVX Corporation," AVX Corp., Myrtle Beach, SC through TCIE; $4,409; co-PI L. Lin (June 1997).
13.    "Facility Layout under Cyclical Demand," Gemcor Inc., Buffalo, NY through TCIE; $8,636 with 50% credit to Industrial Engineering (June 1996 - July 1996). One student supported in summer.
14.    "Virtual Tour of Facilities Design using Multimedia," faculty grant program for developing instructional modules using Authorware, Instructional Technology Services, ASCIT, SUNY, software valued at $400 (June 1996).
15.    "Assessment of Layout Design for Praxair's New Turbine Assembly Facility," Praxair, Inc.; $1,040, co-Principal Investigator L. Lin (October 1995).
16.    "Tool Room Layout Assessment at American Axle," American Axle and Manufacturing, Tonawanda, NY through TCIE; $8,548, co-PI with R. Batta and L. Lin (August 1994).
17.    "Preliminary Facility Assessment at Buffalo Weaving and Belting," Buffalo Weaving and Belting, Buffalo, NY through TCIE; $1,080 (July 1994).
18.    "Plant Layout at R.D. Murray," R.D. Murray Fire Apparatus, Hamburg, NY through TCIE; $2,738 (January 1994).
19.    "Optimal Facility Design and Cycle Time Reduction for Antenna Assembly," Investigator, $137,175 project funded by Westinghouse Corporation and MIPS, (Phase I : August 1991 - July 1992) (PIs Drs. G. Harhalakis and I. Minis at University of Maryland).
20.    "Optimal Facility Design and Cycle Time Reduction for Antenna Assembly," Investigator, $143,015 project funded by Westinghouse Corporation and MIPS, (Phase II : August 1992 - July 1993) (PIs Drs. G. Harhalakis and I. Minis at University of Maryland).

Personnel

Rakesh Nagi
Matthew Kane
Ralph Fico
Vishwanath Ramabhatta
Rajan Batta, Selcuk Savas
Collaborators: G. Harhalakis, J.M. Proth, I. Minis, G. Ioannou, J. Herrmann, T. Lu

Papers and Talks

Papers:

Journal Papers:

Savas, S., Batta, R. and Nagi, R. "Finite-Size Facility Placement in the Presence of Barriers to Rectilinear Travel," Operations Research.
Ramabhatta, V. and Nagi, R., "An Integrated Formulation of Manufacturing Cell Formation with Capacity Planning and Multiple Routings," Annals of Operations Research, 1998, Vol. 77, pp. 79-95.
Ghosh, S., Mahanti, A., Nagi, R. and D. Nau., "Manufacturing Cell Formation by State-Space Search," Annals of Operations Research special issue on Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research in Business and Management, 1996, Vol. 65, pp. 35-54.
Harhalakis, G., Lu, T., Minis, I. and Nagi, R., "A Practical Method for Design of Hybrid-type Production Facilities," International Journal of Production Research, 1996, Vol. 34(4), pp. 897-918.
Herrmann, J.W., Ioannou, G., Minis, I., Nagi, R. and Proth, J.M., "Design of Material Flow Networks in Manufacturing Facilities," Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 1995, Vol. 14(4), pp. 277-289.
Harhalakis, G., Ioannou, G., Minis, I. and Nagi, R., “Manufacturing Cell Formation under Random Product Demand,” International Journal of Production Research, 1994, Vol. 32(1), pp. 47-64.
Nagi, R., Harhalakis, G. and Proth, J.M., "Multiple Routeings and Capacity Considerations in Group Technology Applications," International Journal of Production Research, 1990, Vol. 28 (12), pp. 2243-2257.
Harhalakis, G., Nagi, R. and Proth, J.M., "An Efficient Heuristic in Manufacturing Cell Formation for Group Technology Applications," International Journal of Production Research, 1990, Vol. 28(1), pp. 185-198.

Conference Papers:

Kane, M.C. and Nagi, R., "Integrated Material Flow and Layout in Facilities Design," 6th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Miami, FL, May 1997, pp. 919-924.
Savas, S., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Single Facility Layout with Existing Machines as Barriers," 6th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Miami, FL, May 1997, pp. 925-929.
Harhalakis, G., Minis, I., Nagi, R. and Proth, J.M., "A Comprehensive Group Technology System for Cellular Manufacture," published in Chapter 70, Production Research: Approaching the 21st Century, Taylor and Francis Ltd., 1991 and presented in Tenth ICPR, Nottingham, August 1989.
Harhalakis, G., Minis, I. and Nagi, R., "Development and Application of a Knowledge Based System for Cellular Manufacturing," Third International Conference on Expert Systems in Production and Operations Management, South Carolina, May 1989.
Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Facility Layout (Re)Design Using Planar & Network Location Approaches," NSF Design and Manufacturing Grantees Conference, Tampa FL, January 2001.
Singh, H. and Nagi, R., "Time-Phased Manufacturing Cell Formation: A Cost Based Approach," 8th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Phoenix AZ, May 1999.
Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Facility Layout (Re)Design Using Planar & Network Location Approaches," NSF Design and Manufacturing Grantees Conference, Los Angeles, CA, January 1999.
Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Facility Layout (Re)Design Using Planar and Mixed Planar/Network Location Approaches," 1998 International Colloquium on Material Handling Research, Phoenix, AZ, June 1998.
Savas, S., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "A Mixed Planar/Network Approach to Facility Layout," 7th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Alberta Canada, May 1998.
Fico, R. and Nagi, R., "An Economic Driven Time-Phased Hybrid Cellular Manufacturing Design Approach," 7th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Alberta Canada, May 1998.
Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Classification and Elimination of Material Handling Estimation Errors," 1996 International Colloquium on Material Handling Research, Vught, The Netherlands, June 1996, pp. 435-455.
Ioannou, G., Minis, I., Nagi, R. and Proth, J.-M., "Design of Material Handling Flow Paths," NSF Design and Manufacturing Grantees Conference, Boston, January 1994.
Savas, S., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "A Spatially-Unified Modeling Perspective to Problems in Facilities Design," 10th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Dallas TX, May 2001.
Nandikonda, P., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., " The 1-Center Placement Problem on the Manhattan Plane with Barrier," invited (sponsored by SOLA) presentation in the INFORMS Fall 2000 Conference, San Antonio, November 2000.
Savas, S., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Placement of New Facilities under a Mixed Planar/Network Representation of Facility Layout," invited presentation in the INFORMS Fall 2000 Conference, San Antonio, November 2000.
Nandikonda, P., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "The Weighted 1-Center Problem with Arbitrary Shaped Barriers," presented in the INFORMS Spring 2000 Conference, Salt Lake City, May 2000.
Wang, S.-J., Bhadury, J. and Nagi, R., "Locating Input/Output Points Optimally in a Layout Problem," presented in the INFORMS Fall 1999 Conference, Philadelphia, November 1999.
Mehere, M., Bhadury, J. and Nagi, R., "Integrated Distribution System Design with Warehouse Location & Logistics," presented in the INFORMS Spring 1999 Conference, Cincinnati, May 1999.
Singh, H. and Nagi, R., "Cost Justified Cellular Manufacturing (Re)Design," presented in the INFORMS Spring 1999 Conference, Cincinnati, May 1999.
Savas, S., Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Planar and Network Location Approaches in Facility Layout," invited presentation in the INFORMS Spring 1999 Conference, Cincinnati, May 1999.
Nagi, R., "Directions in Agile Manufacturing and Material Handling Research," discussion group summary presented in the 1996 International Colloquium on Material Handling Research, Vught, The Netherlands, June 1996.
Batta, R. and Nagi, R., "Classification and Elimination of Errors in Plant Layout," presented in 5th Industrial Engineering Research Conference, Minneapolis, MN, May, 1996.
"Selection and Layout of Work-centers in a Job-shop," Poster Session at the Annual Research Review Conference of Systems Research Center, May 1988.

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Rakesh Nagi's Research Page