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Introduction: this study proposes a method to design and balance a cellular manufacturing system of a typical industrial company to obtain an optimal configuration in terms of the process, total cost, idle time and reliability criteria. Methods: the developed method has three phases. The first phase obtains candidate solutions using optimization models to minimize the cycle time and total cost. In the second phase, the performance measures for the remaining criteria of each candidate solution are found using discrete-event simulation. In the last phase, the optimal configuration is selected using the analytic network process (ANP). Results: the proposed method was validated with a practical case, where the optimal configuration had the best reliability with a zero-smoothness index, which minimized the wasted time and excess inventory. However, it was not the configuration with the lowest cost. Conclusions: This method has two contributing elements: multiple lean criteria and the approach, which combines different solution strategies to select the best configuration in an integral manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]