Integrated Facility Design Using an Evolutionary Approach with a Subordinate Network Algorithm

The facility design problem is a common one in manufacturing and service industries and has been studied extensively in the literature. However, restrictions on the scope of the design problem have been imposed by the limitations of the optimization techniques employed. This paper uses an evolutionary approach with a subordinate network optimization algorithm to produce integrated designs that have better translations into physical plant designs. A new distance metric to consider material travel along the perimeter of the departments to and from input/output locations is devised. This perimeter distance metric is used in the objective function to produce facility designs that simultaneously optimize design of department shapes, department placement and location of the department input/output points.