Facility layout planning (FLP) involves a set of design problems related to the arrangement elements that shape industrial production systems in physical space. The fact they are considered one most important decisions as part business operation strategies, and their proven repercussion on systems’ costs, efficiency productivity, mean this theme has been widely addressed science. In context, pr...

In this paper we discuss two particular layout problems, namely the Single-Row Equidistant Facility Layout Problem (SREFLP) and the Single-Row Facility Layout Problem (SRFLP). Our aim is to consolidate the two respective branches in the layout literature. We show that the (SREFLP) is not only a special case of the Quadratic Assignment Problem but also a special case of the (SRFLP). This new con...

This paper addresses the design of an assembly system facility consisting of multiple assembly lines of different shapes. In such a design problem there are two conflicting objectives: (i) to minimize the overall area of the facility; and (ii) to maximize the efficiency of the material handling transportation system. We first address the optimization problem of objective (ii) when replacing obj...

This research proposes a vigorous methodology based on the fuzzy set theory to improve the facility layout process. Using natural language, the fuzzy set theory is an appropriate tool for controlling complex systems such as facility planning. The closeness rating between departments in a plant depends on qualitative and quantitative factors. Some of these factors may have a greater effect on th...

The unequal-areas facility layout problem is concerned with finding the optimal arrangement of a given number of non-overlapping indivisible departments with unequal area requirements within a facility. We present a convex-optimisation-based framework for efficiently finding competitive solutions for this problem. The framework is based on the combination of two mathematical programming models....

This research proposes a vigorous methodology based on the fuzzy set theory to improve the facility layout process. Using natural language, the fuzzy set theory is an appropriate tool for controlling complex systems such as facility planning. The closeness rating between departments in a plant depends on qualitative and quantitative factors. Some of these factors may have a greater effect on th...