Managing dynamic facility layout with multiple objectives

Abstract

The Dynamic Facility Layout Problem (DFLP) has garnered increasing attention in this day and age. Traditionally, the facility layout is usually viewed as static — that is, once the facility layout is planned and executed, the layout remains unchanged for years. This is not the case in the real world, in which the facility layout may undergo change as frequently as every few months, especially in high-tech industries. Furthermore, current research efforts are primarily into the quantitative aspect of DFLP alone, ignoring the qualitative aspect of facility layout. In light of this issue, a dynamic multi-objective facility layout model is proposed to explore several aspects of facility layout planning including time, distance-based objective as well as the adjacency-based objective. The steps for implementing the dynamic multi-objective facility layout application are also discussed.