Tabu search procedures for the cell formation problem with intra-cell transfer costs as a function of cell size

This paper compares four procedures that generate heuristic solutions for a cell formation integer programming model. The objective of the model is to minimize cost. The cost elements included in the model are: cost of intra-cell and inter-cell moves, and the cost of the equipment used in the cells. The cost of an intra-cell move is based on the size of the cell in terms of the number of machines included in the cell. The procedures were tested on 19 problems obtained from the literature. The results show that a previous method developed by Sankaran and Kasilingam (1993) is very efficient but generates poor solutions. A tabu search procedure that starts with the solution generated by the Sankaran and Kasilingam procedure significantly improved the solutions. A second tabu search procedure that uses a new method of developing an initial solution also generated better solutions than the Sankaran and Kasilingam procedure and on the larger sized problems generated the best solutions.