Abstract: For the problem that reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) have to consider the efficiency and flexibility at the same time, a method for the formation of part family, which considers bypassing moves and idle machines, is presented. First, the longest common subsequence (LCS) among different process of parts is identified. Then, on basis of LCS, a shortest composite supersequence (SCS) is formatted through the combination of LCS and the rest operation under the consideration of bypassing moves and idle machines. Based on the linear relationship between parts similarity and LCS as well as SCS, the similarity coefficient algorithm is designed. Finally, the developed similarity coefficient has been compared with the exiting best similarity coefficients available in the existing literature and the accuracy and efficiency has been verified.

Key words: longest common subsequence, part family, shortest composite supersequence, similarity coefficient, reconfigurable manufacturing system