Managing a new multi-objective model for the dynamic facility layout problem

Abstract

In today’s manufacturing environment, the facility layout needs to be adaptable to changes. This situation requires the solution of the dynamic layout problem. But in previous studies of dynamic facility layout optimization, the main objective is to minimize the sum of the re-arrangement and material handling costs. To be more realistic, each of these cost terms in objective function might be of different importance to decision makers. In this research, the objective function has been considered as two distinct functions. This formulation enables decision makers to apply their own views. On the other hand, in the proposed model the adjacency-based objective aims at maximizing adjacency scores between the facilities in a facility layout has also been used. The proposed multi-objective model was defined as a complex combinatorial optimization problem. It has also been the objective of the present study to evaluate some of the known methods that have been proposed to solve the multi-objective problem. The results for test problems showed that the population based metaheuristic methods are useful tools in solving proposed model.