Article ID: | iaor20022100 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 33 |
Issue: | 4 |
Start Page Number: | 337 |
End Page Number: | 344 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2001 |
Journal: | IIE Transactions |
Authors: | Smith Alice E., Norman Bryan A., Arapoglu Rifat Aykut |
Keywords: | design |
The unequal area facility design problem has been studied in the literature generally by considering block layout separate from detailed design. This paper shows a tractable method for concurrently optimizing department shape and location within the facility, and selection of the appropriate number of Input/Output (I/O) stations per department and then optimally locating them. The distance metric used is the contour distance that measures transport between I/O stations along the perimeters of departmental boundaries. This distance metric better reflects allowable material flow for many industrial applications and it directly implies the optimal aisle structure for the facility.