**Youkyung Won**

Department of Business Administration, Kunsan National University, 558 Daehak-ro, Gunsan-si 54150, Korea; ykwon@kunsan.ac.kr

Received: 5 April 2020; Accepted: 15 May 2020; Published: 18 May 2020

**Abstract:** In this paper, we show that the hard computing approach using the *p*-median problem (PMP) is a very effective strategy for optimally solving large-size generalized cell formation (GCF) problems. The soft computing approach, relying on heuristic or metaheuristic search algorithms, has been the prevailing strategy for solving large-size GCF problems with a short computation time at the cost of the global optimum in large instances of GCF problems; however, due to recent advances in computing technology, using hard computing techniques to solve large-sized GCF problems optimally is not time-prohibitive if an appropriate mathematical model is built. We show that the hard computing approach using the PMP-type model can even solve large 0–1 GCF instances optimally in a very short computation time with a powerful mixed integer linear programming (MILP) solver adopting an exact search algorithm such as the branch-and-bound algorithm.

**Keywords:** hard computing approach; *p*-median problem; generalized cell formation
