LADEGA: Unequal facilities layout design using a genetic algorithm for large-scale problems

This paper presents layout solutions on unequal-sized facilities layout problems employing a genetic algorithm (GA). Based on the GA methodology, a computer program has been written to execute the GA program named LADEGA (L ($) under barA ($) under bar yout D ($) under barE ($) under bar sign using a G ($) under bar enetic A ($) under bar lgorithm) on an IBM compatible PC in order to generate layout solutions. A continuous plane model is used to measure the objective value as material handling cost, when all the constraints are satisfied. In this model, distances between each pair of facilities are dynamically measured by LADEGA. The purpose of this paper is to generate layout solutions by assigning all the facilities with the floor boundaries in such a way that the total material handling cost is minimised. The computational results of 20 facilities are presented and compared with the solutions reported by other source. Two data sets are randomly generated for solving the large-scale problems of 30 and 50 unequal facilities, as there is no problem of these sizes existing in the literature in order to validate the performance of LADEGA.