Homework #7 Solution

15.7 Apply the rank order clustering technique to the part-machine incidence matrix in the
following table to identify logical part families and machine groups. Parts are identified by
letters and machines are identified numerically.
Parts
Machines A B C D E F G H I
1 1 1 1
2 1 1 1 1 1
3 1 1 1
4 1 1 1
5 1 1
6 1 1 1
7 1 1 1
8 1 1 1 1
Solution:
Step 1 Step 2
A B C D E F G H IRank A B C D E F G H I
1 1 1 1 6 2 1 1 1 1 1
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1
3 1 1 1 8 7 1 1 1
4 1 1 1 2 8 1 1 1 1
5 1 1 7 6 1 1 1
6 1 1 1 5 1 1 1 1
7 1 1 1 3 5 1 1
8 1 1 1 1 4 3 1 1 1
Rank 1 2 6 7 8 9 5 3 4

Step 3 Step 4
A B H I G C D E F Rank A H B I G C D E F
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
4 1 1 1 1 2 4 1 1 1 1
7 1 1 1 3 7 1 1 1
8 1 1 1 1 4 8 1 1 1 1
6 1 1 1 5 6 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 7 3 1 1 1
5 1 1 8 1 1 1 1
3 1 1 1 6 5 1 1
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 7 9

1
 Step 5 Step 6

A B H I G C E D F Rank A H B I G C E D F
2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
4 1 1 1 1 2 4 1 1 1 1
7 1 1 1 3 7 1 1 1
8 1 1 1 1 4 8 1 1 1 1
6 1 1 1 5 6 1 1 1
3 1 1 1 6 3 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 7 1 1 1 1
5 1 1 8 5 1 1
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Part families and machine groups:
I = (A, B, F, G, H, I) and (2, 3, 6, 8)
II = (C, D, E) and (1, 4, 5, 7)

Note: Part pack A in group I requires processing in group II (machine 4, 7) and Part pack H
in group I requires processing in group II (machine 4)