An ant algorithm for the single row layout problem in flexible manufacturing systems

Single row machine layout problem is one of the most commonly used layout patterns, especially in flexible manufacturing systems. In this paper, this problem is formulated as a non-linear 0-1 programming model in which the distance between the machines is sequence dependent. An ant algorithm has been developed to solve this problem. A technique is proposed to efficiently implement the proposed algorithm. The performance of the proposed heuristic is tested over a number of problems selected from the literature. Computational results indicate that the proposed approach is more effective compared to many existing algorithms in this area. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.