Intelligent design of a flexible cell layout with maximum stability in a stochastic dynamic situation

Abstract

Facility layout problem is a critical issue in the early stages of designing a manufacturing system because it affects the total manufacturing cost significantly. This paper proposes a new mathematical model for designing a machine layout having maximum stability for the whole time planning horizon of the stochastic dynamic facility layout problem by using quadratic assignment formulation. This layout has the maximum ability to display a small sensitivity to demand changeability. In this investigation, the product demands are assumed to be independent Poisson distributed random variables with known probability density function in each period. In order to validate the proposed model, a randomly generated test problem is solved by using simulated annealing algorithm. Finally, the computational results are evaluated statistically. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.