A simulated annealing approach for optimizing layout design of reconfigurable manufacturing system based on the workstation properties

The problem studied focuses on facility layout problems (FLP) that arise in reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The goal is to reduce the distance traveled by an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) to move products between several workstations. The proposed solving approach takes into account the empty and loaded travels made by this vehicle as well as the machine's properties (i.e. layout, orientations, shapes of workstations). We use simulated annealing to optimize this problem. The findings demonstrate the impact of the modification of the layout, the orientation, the shape, and the benefits of using the three together. In addition, we study two different ways to optimize the solution: each property independently (i.e. sequentially) or all properties together. Preliminary results show that the sequential method outperforms the latter in terms of distance gain.