Classification of facility layout problems: a review study

TLDR: In this article, a review of the literature on facility layout problem is made by referring to numerous papers about FLP, mainly motivated by the current and prospective trends of research on such points as layout evolution, workshop characteristics, problem formulation, and solution methodologies.

Abstract: Facility layout problem (FLP) is defined as the placement of facilities in a plant area, with the aim of determining the most effective arrangement in accordance with some criteria or objectives under certain constraints, such as shape, size, orientation, and pick-up/drop-off point of the facilities. It has been over six decades since Koopmans and Beckmann published their seminal paper on modeling the FLP. Since then, there have been improvements to these researchers’ original quadratic assignment problem. However, research on many aspects of the FLP is still in its initial stage; hence, the issue is an interesting field to work on. Here, a review of literature is made by referring to numerous papers about FLPs. The study is mainly motivated by the current and prospective trends of research on such points as layout evolution, workshop characteristics, problem formulation, and solution methodologies. It points to gaps in the literature and suggests promising directions for future research on FLP.