Title: Solving the Dynamic Plant Layout Problem using a new hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm

Authors: Jose M. Rodriguez, F. Chris MacPhee, David J. Bonham, Virendrakumar C. Bhavsar

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, NB, Canada. ' Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, NB, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, NB, Canada. ' Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, NB, Canada

Abstract: The Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) can be used to formulate the Facility Layout Problem (FLP). The Dynamic Plant Layout Problem (DPLP) extends the FLP. Of the attempted 48 DPLP instances, 29 now have new best-known solution. With respect to the six department instances that all have a known optimal solution, optimal solutions were obtained for two, for which no heuristic had been found before, and previously found optimal solutions were matched for the remainder. With respect to the 15 and 30 department instances, none of which has a known optimal solution, only three current best-known solutions could not be obtained.

Keywords: quadratic assignment problem; QAP; facility layout problem; FLP; dynamic plant layout problem; DPLP; genetic algorithms; GA; Tabu search; TS; high performance computing; hybrid metaheuristics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHPCN.2006.013483

International Journal of High Performance Computing and Networking, 2006 Vol.4 No.5/6, pp.286 - 294

Published online: 01 May 2007 *

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