MULTICRITERIA FACILITY LAYOUT PROBLEM - AN INTEGRATED APPROACH

In this paper, a facility layout problem with multiple criteria is add ressed. Three consecutive submodels for solving the problem are integr ated and presented hierarchically. We first use the analytic hierarchy process to tackle the qualitative aspect of the facility layout probl em. As a result, a relative weight for each qualitative criterion and a closeness rating matrix are obtained. We then formulate a multiple o bjective Quadratic Assignment Problem to combine the qualitative and q uantitative objects. The weights of both the qualitative as well as th e quantitative factors are included in the model. The transformation c onstant, which is used to transform the closeness rating scale to corr espond with the work flow volume, is also included. Finally, we use th e simulated annealing search technique to find a near optimal solution .