Layout technique for unequal area and shape departments considering main aisle

In this paper, a layout technique for unequal area and shape departments with a main aisle is proposed. In this technique, layout is represented by the flexible aisle structure (FAS), which is an improvement on the flexible bay structure (FBS), by considering the main aisle inside the building. FBS and FAS treat unequal area and unfixed rectangular shape departments. By using FAS, assignments of departments and aisle structure are optimized simultaneously during the search. In the objective function, which is based on the material handling cost between departments, we use the distance between departments along aisles, in order to take into account the existence of the main aisle. Also, a new measurement for evaluating department shapes, which have unequal area, unfixed rectangles, is proposed. Experimental results indicate the effectiveness of controlling department shapes by this new measurement and of using distance along aisles in the objective function.