Facility layout problem: Bibliometric and benchmarking analysis

Facility layout problem is related to the location of departments in a facility area, with the aim of determining the most effective configuration. Researches based on different approaches have been published in the last six decades and, to prove the effectiveness of the results obtained, several instances have been developed. This paper presents a general overview on the extant literature on facility layout problems in order to identify the main research trends and propose future research questions. Firstly, in order to give the reader an overview of the literature, a bibliometric analysis is presented. Then, a clusterization of the papers referred to the main instances reported in literature was carried out in order to create a database that can be a useful tool in the benchmarking procedure for researchers that would approach this kind of problems

The Single Row Facility Layout Problem: State of the Art

The single row facility layout problem (SRFLP) is a NP-hard problem concerned with the arrangement of facilities of given lenghs on a line so as to minimize the weighted sum of the distances between all the pairs of facilities. The SRFLP and its special cases often arise while modeling a large variety of applications. It was actively researched until the mid-nineties. It has again been actively studied since 2005. Interestingly, research on many aspects of this problem is still in the initial stages, and hence the SRFLP is an interesting problem to work on. In this paper, we review the literature on the SRFLP and comment on its relationship with other location problems. We then provide an overview of different formulations of the problem that appear in the literature. We provide exact and heuristic approaches that have been used to solve SRFLPs, and finally point out research gaps and promising directions for future research on this problem.

The single row layout problem with clearances

The single row layout problem (SRLP) is a specially structured instance of the classical facility layout problem, especially used in flexible manufacturing systems. The SRLP consists of finding the most efficient arrangement of a given number of machines along one side of the material handling path with the purpose of minimising the total weighted sum of distances among all machine pairs. To reflect real manufacturing situations, a minimum space (so-called clearances) between machines may be required by observing technological constraints, safety considerations and regulations. This thesis intends to outline the different concepts of clearances used in literature and analyse their effects on modelling and solution approaches for the SRLP. In particular the special characteristics of sequence-dependent, asymmetric clearances are discussed and finally extended to large size clearances (machine-spanning clearances). For this, adjusted and novel model formulations and solution approaches are presented. Furthermore, a comprehensive survey of articles published in this research area since 2000 is provided which identify recent developments and emerging trends in SRLP

Tabu Search for the Single Row Facility Layout Problem in FMS using a 3-opt Neighborhood

Since material handling agents in a FMS are most efficient when moving in straight lines, a common layout of machines in a FMS is a single row layout. This allows a floor designer to model the problem of generating an optimal machine layout in a FMS as a single row facility layout problem (SRFLP). Due to the computational complexity involved in solving the SRFLP, researchers have developed several heuristics to solve large instances of the problem. In this paper, we present a tabu search implementation based on a 3-opt neighborhood search scheme. We also present a technique to speed up the exhaustive 3-opt neighborhood search process significantly. Our computational experiments show that speed up of the 3-opt search is effective, and our tabu search implementation is competitive. The results we present here are better than the currently known best layouts for several large sized benchmark SRFLP instances, and competitive for other benchmark instances.

INSERTION HEURISTIC FOR THE SINGLE ROW LAYOUT PROBLEM IN FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

An important problem in a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) is to obtain a layout of machines such that material handling is the most efficient. Since poor layout would result in more parts spending longer time moving from one machine to another, developing layout for FMS is dealing with the arrangement of machines in the shop floor in order to minimize the total flow of parts in the system. In this paper, a single row layout problem is considered, and a heuristic approach, called the insertion heuristic, to solve the problem is proposed. The proposed approach is tested on benchmark problems available in the literature and the results are presented. Key words: FMS, Single row unequal area layout, Insertion Heuristic

A Lin-Kernighan Heuristic for Single Row Facility Layout

The single row facility layout problem (SRFLP) is the problem of arranging facilities with given lengths on a line, while minimizing the weighted sum of the distances between all pairs of facilities. The problem is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, we present a neighborhood search heuristic called LK-INSERT which uses a Lin-Kernighan neighborhood structure built on insertion neighborhoods. To the best of our knowledge this is the first such heuristic for the SRFLP. Our computational experiments show that LK-INSERT is competitive and improves the best known solutions for several large sized benchmark SRFLP instances.

Facility layout planning. An extended literature review

[EN] Facility layout planning (FLP) involves a set of design problems related to the arrangement of the elements that shape industrial production systems in a physical space. The fact that they are considered one of the most important design decisions as part of business operation strategies, and their proven repercussion on production systems' operation costs, efficiency and productivity, mean that this theme has been widely addressed in science. In this context, the present article offers a scientific literature review about FLP from the operations management perspective. The 232 reviewed articles were classified as a large taxonomy based on type of problem, approach and planning stage and characteristics of production facilities by configuring the material handling system and methods to generate and assess layout alternatives. We stress that the generation of layout alternatives was done mainly using mathematical optimisation models, specifically discrete quadratic programming models for similar sized departments, or continuous linear and non-linear mixed integer programming models for different sized departments. Other approaches followed to generate layout alternatives were expert's knowledge and specialised software packages. Generally speaking, the most frequent solution algorithms were metaheuristics.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union H2020 Program under grant agreement No 958205 `Industrial Data Services for Quality Control in Smart Manufacturing (i4Q)'and from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities under grant agreement RTI2018-101344-B-I00 `Optimisation of zerodefectsproduction technologies enabling supply chains 4.0 (CADS4.0)'Pérez-Gosende, P.; Mula, J.; Díaz-Madroñero Boluda, FM. (2021). Facility layout planning. An extended literature review. International Journal of Production Research. 59(12):3777-3816. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2021.189717637773816591

Multi-objective optimization in single-row layout design using a genetic algorithm

This paper presents the development of a genetic algorithm for determining a common linear machine sequence for multi-products with different operation sequences and facilities with a limited number of duplicate machine types available for a job. This work aims to minimize the total flow distance travelled by products, reduce the number of machines arranged in the final linear sequence, and decrease the total investment cost of the machines used in the final sequence. We assume that product flow runs only in the forward direction, either via in-sequence or bypass movement. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm by solving a typical layout design problem taken from literature, and several randomly generated problems. Results indicate that the proposed algorithm serves as a practical decision support tool for resolving layout problems in manufacturing facilities

A simple heuristic for linear sequencing of machines in layout design

This paper presents a simple heuristic to determine a common linear machine sequence for multiple products with different operation sequences and a limited number of duplicate machine types available for the job. The heuristic is based on minimisation of the total flow distance travelled by a product on the linear machine sequence. It is assumed that the flows of products are allowed only in the forward direction, either in-sequence or by-pass. It is also assumed that backtrack movements are not allowed. The effectiveness of the proposed heuristic is demonstrated through the solutions of two typical layout design problems taken from the literature. Subsequently, a number of additional problems are solved and their results are compared with the results applying existing methods. The results indicate that the proposed method can be an effective tool in solving layout design problems

Heuristics and Metaheuristics Approaches for Facility Layout Problems: A Survey

Facility Layout Problem (FLP) is a NP-hard problem concerned with the arrangement of facilities as to minimize the distance travelled between all pairs of facilities. Many exact and approximate approaches have been proposed with an extensive applicability to deal with this problem. This paper studies the fundamentals of some well-known heuristics and metaheuristics used in solving the FLPs. It is hoped that this paper will trigger researchers for in-depth studies in FLPs looking into more specific interest such as equal or unequal FLPs