Title: Sheep flock heredity algorithm to solve the loop layout problem in flexible manufacturing system

Authors: M. Saravanan; S. Ganesh Kumar; R. Srinivasan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Subramanya College of Engineering and Technology, Palani, Dindigul, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, RVS College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, RVS College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, India

Abstract: The flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) layout problem is dealt with the arrangement of facilities in a given location. In FMS layouts, the loop layout is more desirable than the other because of their relative lower initial investment costs. The objective is to determine an assignment of machines that yields a minimum materials handling cost without congestion. In this paper, sheep flock heredity algorithm (SFHA) is proposed for solving the loop layout problem (LLP), and validated through benchmark problems. In SFHA, the pairwise mutation process is removed by single point mutation process which guarantees the feasibility of the solutions in the local search domain. Chromosomal crossover is removed by robust-replace heuristic to develop the global search. The computational results showed that the SFHA algorithm is producing good quality solutions for large sized problems compared with other algorithms.

Keywords: facility layout; loop layout problem; LLP; flexible manufacturing systems; FMS layout; sheep flock heredity algorithm; SFHA; machine assignment; materials handling cost; congestion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2016.078974

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2016 Vol.7 No.3, pp.260 - 271

Received: 24 Nov 2014
Accepted: 18 Apr 2015
Published online: 08 Sep 2016 *

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