An Integer Linear Programming Approach for Solving the Combined Cell ...

In this work we consider the Combined Cell Layout Problem (CCLP).The CCLP aims to minimize the material-handling costs in a cellular manufacturing system with two or more cells where processing occurs, and in the presence of parts requiring processing in more than one cell.The alignment of the machines in each cell can follow a row or a circular layout. The CCLP was first introduced by Hungerländer and Anjos in 2012 who suggested a Semidefinite Programming (SDP) approachfor solving it.  We propose an Integer Linear Programming approachfor solving the CCLP. Finally,  we create a large benchmark set and demonstrate the efficiency of our ILP on these instances in a compu-tational study.  We show that our approach is able to solve instances with up to 240 machines arranged in 10 cells to optimality within one minute. Hence, it outperforms the SDP proposed by Hungerländer and Anjos, which was the current best available exact approach.