Abstract
We propose a new framework of facility layout problems which takes the production efficiency into account explicitly. In the classical framework of facility layout problems, layouts are evaluated only by the material handling cost, and any aspects as to how layouts affect the production efficiencies are not considered. In real systems, however, the layout of facilities do affect the production efficiencies such as throughput, lead time and so on. Thus, in general, there should exist the "best" layout which absorbs the variability involved in the system and attains the highest production efficiency. In short, our problem is to find the layout of facilities which results in the maximal production efficiency. We refer this type of layout problems as the "Stochastic Facility Layout Problem (SFLP)". In this paper, we present an example of SFLP which finds an optimal combination of the facility layout and the buffer space allocation to achieve the maximal throughput. In case when the physical size of a buffer space can not be ignored compared with the facility itself, allocating buffer spaces to a facility affects the distances between facilities. In such a case, the production efficiency (throughput, say) depends on both buffer space allocation and facility layout in a complex way. Our problem gives rational solutions for such a situation. Through this example problem, we discuss the merits and the demerits of SFLP compared with the classical facility layout problems.
