Multiple objective facility layout: a heuristic to generate efficient alternatives

SUMMARY Most multiple-objective approaches to solving the facility layout problem generate different layouts by varying the weights of the objectives using heuristic methods. It is possible, however, to generate the same layout using different weights. It is also possible that many efficient layouts will not be generated because it is not clear which weights would generate them. Furthermore, there may be some efficient layouts that cannot be generated regardless of what weights are used. In this paper we propose a heuristic algorithm for generating efficient layouts through pairwise interchange of departments. We show that if the decision maker's preferences for the selection of the best layout cannot be expressed as a linear utility function, it is essential to use other techniques such as the one developed in this paper, rather than weighting techniques, to generate efficient layouts. An example and some experiments are discussed.