(The) multi-bay manufacturing facility layout problem with flexibility of bay width

Abstract

We deal with the layout problem of multi-bay manufacturing facility, where bays are connected at one or both ends by an inter-bay material handling system. Previous researches adopted two-stage solution procedure: (1) assigning departments to the bays (2) determining the layout of each bay, which may generate local optimum. In this study, a one-stage GA approach is developed to solve the problem. The objective is to minimize the material-handling costs, including inter-bay material handling cost and intra-bay material handling cost. In particular, we examine the effects of the addition of bay width flexibility and the number of bays on the optimal layout. Computational tests are also done to identify proper parameter values and also to compare the performance of our model with those of previous studies.