The unequal-areas facility layout problem is concerned with finding the optimal arrangement of a given number of non-overlapping indivisible departments with unequal area requirements within a facility. We present an improved optimization-based framework for efficiently finding competitive solutions for this problem. The framework is based on the combination of two mathematical optimization mod...

A bay configuration arranged along a central spine and served by an automated monorail material handling system are common designs for the layout and material handling system in new semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities. This paper investigates the facility design problem in semiconductor fabrication facilities and proposes a procedure to determine the optimal spine layout design given a d...

This paper presents an extended formulation of the unequal area facilities block layout problem which explicitly considers uncertainty in material handling costs by use of expected value and standard deviations of product forecasts. This formulation is solved using a random keys genetic algorithm (RKGA) to circumvent the need for repair operators after crossover and mutation. Because this probl...

A construction site represents a conflux of concerns, constantly calling for a broad and multi-criteria approach to solving problems related to site planning and design. As an important part of site planning and design, the objective of site-level facility layout is to allocate appropriate locations and areas for accommodating temporary site-level facilities such as warehouses, job offices, wor...

Today’s consumer market demands that manufacturers must be competitive. This requires the efficient operation of manufacturing plants and their ability to quickly respond to changes in product mix and demand. In addition, studies show that material handling cost make up between 20 and 50 percent of the total operating cost. Therefore, this paper considers the problem of arranging and rearrangin...

This paper proposes a non-greedy local search heuristic for solving facility layout problem. The proposed heuristic works on non-greedy systematic pair wise exchange of two facilities, that is 2-exchange local search based on non-greedy strategy. Pair wise exchanges are accepted if the objective function value after the exchange is lowered or smaller than the average objective function incremen...

In this paper, we study a stochastic version of the fault-tolerant facility location problem. By exploiting the stochastic structure, we propose a 5-approximation algorithm which uses the LProunding technique based on the revised optimal solution to the linear programming relaxation of the stochastic fault-tolerant facility location problem.

A tree structure model has been proposed for representing the unequal-area facility layout. Each facility has a different rectangular shape specified by its area and aspect ratio. In this layout problem, based on the assumption that the shop floor has enough space for laying out the facilities, no constraint is considered for a shop floor. Objectives are minimizing total part movement between f...