Multi-objective particle swarm optimization for multi-workshop facility layout problem

Abstract

The novel multi-workshop facility layout problem presented in this paper involves the placement of a group of departments into several workshops; it deals with the distribution of departments over workshops and their optimal exact coordinates without overlapping. In considering practical situations, the internal material handling flows and external transport flows are taken into account in the problem. In this study, the problem is first formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model with three objectives: minimization of overall material handling costs, minimization of number of workshops, and maximization of utilization ratio of workshop floor. Thereafter, the proposed multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm with an innovative discrete framework and incorporated with a two-stage approach is employed to search for feasible solutions locally and globally. Finally, several benchmark instances derived from literature that satisfy our case requirements are employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method; highly preferable results are typically achieved.