Facility layouts based on differential evolution algorithm

Abstract

Facility layout problem (FLP) which deals with the placement of facilities in the plant area is one of the most critical problems in manufacturing systems design. This paper presents a novel facility layout approach based on differential evolution (DE) algorithm. Firstly, mathematical model with constraints for the FLP is established. Then, a new facility layout algorithm based on DE is proposed, which can improve the convergence rate by using the interference checking method. Finally, a simulation platform with three-dimensional visualization is developed. The comparison experiments of the proposed method and genetic algorithm (GA) based on robot work cell layout problem show that the proposed method converges faster and can obtain better optimal layout.