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Purpose: In this paper, we have proposed a new model for designing a Cellular Manufacturing System (CMS) for minimizing the costs regarding a limited number of cells to be formed by assigning workforce. Design/methodology/approach: Pursuing mathematical approach and because the problem is NP-Hard, two meta-heuristic methods of Simulated Annealing (SA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms have been used. A small randomly generated test problem with real-world dimensions has been solved using simulated annealing and particle swarm algorithms. Findings: The quality of the two algorithms has been compared. The results showed that PSO algorithm provides more satisfactory solutions than SA algorithm in designing a CMS under uncertainty demands regarding the workforce allocation. Originality/value: In the most of the previous research, cell production has been considered under certainty production or demand conditions, while in practice production and demand are in a dynamic situations and in the real settings, cell production problems require variables and active constraints for each different time periods to achieve better design, so modeling such a problem in dynamic structure leads to more complexity while getting more applicability. The contribution of this paper is providing a new model by considering dynamic production times and uncertainty demands in designing cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research, by using the SIMIO simulation platform, provides a quantitative and comparative analysis of how the efficiency of four different cell production modes is affected. It is hoped that the results will be of some help for garment factories to optimize their production lines. Design/methodology/approach: The SIMIO simulation platform was employed in the research and comparisons were made of the simulation test results about the four popular cellular manufacturing modes. Findings: The operation mode, number of operators, and number of buffer areas are key factors affecting the production line efficiency, and need to be reasonably set to achieve the highest efficiency. Originality/value: As most research literature so far is qualitative, this research provided a simulation-based quantitative analysis of the production efficiency under different cell production modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]