INTEGRATED FORMULATION FOR THE FACILITIES LAYOUT, PROCESS SELECTION, AND PRODUCTION PLANNING PROBLEMS

In this thesis we present an integrated formulation for production planning, facilities layout and process selection and provide two heuristics for solving the integrated problem. The traditional solution procedures to each of the subproblems are discussed. The decisions modeled in these three problems are interrelated and, in some cases, share overlapping data requirements. The integrated formulation provided is a mixed integer program. Solving this mixed integer program optimally is a hard problem. Thus, in this thesis we only provide heuristic solutions. An optimal branch and bound algorithm is suggested. Both heuristic solutions are demonstrated on a sample problem. The results of testing eight problems is recorded. Further suggestions for improving the heuristic solutions are also provided.