A biased random-key genetic algorithm for the unequal area facility layout problem

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2015

Authors

Jose Fernando Goncalves (Author) FEP; Mauricio G C Resende (Author) Other

Journal

Title: European Journal of Operational Research

Vol. 246

Pages: 86-107

ISSN: 0377-2217

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 67 Citations

Scopus - 81 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Industrial biotechnology

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00G-5EA

DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2015.04.029

Abstract (EN): This paper presents a biased random-key genetic algorithm (BRKGA) for the unequal area facility layout problem (UA-FLP) where a set of rectangular facilities with given area requirements has to be placed, without overlapping, on a rectangular floor space. The objective is to find the location and the dimensions of the facilities such that the sum of the weighted distances between the centroids of the facilities is minimized. A hybrid approach combining a BRKGA, to determine the order of placement and the dimensions of each facility, a novel placement strategy, to position each facility, and a linear programming model, to fine-tune the solutions, is developed. The proposed approach is tested on 100 random datasets and 28 of benchmark datasets taken from the literature and compared with 21 other benchmark approaches. The quality of the approach was validated by the improvement of the best known solutions for 19 of the 28 extensively studied benchmark datasets.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 22