Locating I/O points of flexible manufacturing cells with the consideration of within-cell and inter-cell flow distance

The locations of cell I/O points are critical to the inter-cell flow efficiency. Traditional I/O point locating methods often focus on minimizing inter-cell flow distance. However, an inter-cell movement incurs not only inter-cell flow distance but also within-cell flow distance. An I/O point locating method without the shortcomings of traditional methods is developed.