Optimal selection of multi-criteria unequal area facility layout problem: an integer linear program and Borda-Kendall-based method

摘要

The paper attempts to solve multi-criteria unequal area facility layout problem. Six criteria viz. distance, adjacency, shape ratio, flexibility, accessibility and maintenance are considered here. The unequal area facility layout is solved using a software SPIRAL where the data is taken from published literature. Several alternatives are generated by varying quantitative parameters but keeping the same objective function value. The optimal decision to select the best facility layout is decided based on six qualitative criteria. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques AHP and IRP are applied on all alternative layouts and the ranking of alternatives are obtained. In addition, weighted IRP method is also proposed to rank the available layouts. AHP-IRP and weighted IRP provide independent ranking. For optimal selection of multi-criteria unequal area facility layout, an integer linear program (ILP) and Borda-Kendall (BK) method are applied. Integer linear program and Borda-Kendall method are applied to aggregate the various rankings of facility layouts for final decision.