Fuzzy part family formation based on grey relational analysis

Part family formation is one of the most important techniques in computer-aided process planning (CAPP). This paper presents a new method that uses grey relational analysis and fuzzy clustering to form part families. The main objective of this paper is to identify part families based on a new similarity coefficient which considers processing time, lot size, machine usability, etc., by using grey relational analysis. After the similarity coefficient is calculated, a fuzzy clustering method is used to obtain part families. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a rigorous mathematical approach to forming part families. Part family formation can be controlled, for different applications, by setting a resolution threshold, so the approach is flexible, practical and reliable.