A hybrid particle swarm optimisation for dynamic facility layout problem

The dynamic facility layout problem (DFLP) aims to minimise the sum of handling and re-layout costs by devising an individual layout for each distinctive production period. In this paper, a hybrid particle swarm optimisation (HPSO) algorithm is proposed to find near-optimal solutions of DFLP. We use a coding and decoding technique that permits a one to one mapping of a solution in discrete space of DFLP to a PSO particle position in continuous space. The proposed PSO will further use this coding technique to explore the continuous solution space. For further enhancement, the proposed PSO is hybridised with a simple and fast simulated annealing. The developed algorithm is capable of being extended to more general cases although equal area machines and standardised handling equipments with identical unit costs are assumed for the time being. Computational results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm compared to other heuristics.