| The study of facility layout design with respect to optimization has been analyzed using several different hierarchical approaches. Classical approaches such as CRAFT, CORELAP, modified CORELAP, and ALDEP all provide a local optimal solution to a facility layout problem. The existence of more complex layout problems in industry has decreased the overall effectiveness of these algorithms. Therefore, the single solutions generated by these algorithms alone may not provide adequate results.; This thesis will focus on the introduction of randomness through the Meta-heuristic for Randomized Priority Search (Meta-RaPS) to CRAFT in an effort to find optimal solutions. The randomness incorporated within Meta-RaPS uses priority rules to obtain a feasible solution at each iteration. The generation of several different final layouts will allow the selection of the best solution. The meta-heuristic approach, Meta-RaPS, when introduced to the CRAFT layout algorithm, creates improved final solutions for solving layout problems. The results of this combination of algorithms for a selection of facility layout problem, found a better outcome than the discussed individual algorithm. |
