A newoptimizationmodeltosupportabottom-upapproachtofacilitydesign

The facilitylayoutproblemistypicallysolvedinwhatisreferredtoasa“top-downapproach”ofblock layout designfollowedbydetailedlayoutdetermination.However,anumberofresearcheffortsrecently have challengedthisapproach,producingareformulated bottom-up approachtothefacilitylayoutproblem. In thispaperweconsiderthebottom-upapproach,applyingatighterformulationthanprioreffortsand investigating thesolvabilitylimitsofthenewmodel.Empiricaltestingofthenewbottom-uplayout model indicatesthatalthoughthismodelproducesmoreusableoutput,asjudgedbyindustryexperts,it is approximatelythreetimeshardertosolve.Validinequalitiesandspecialcasesareidentifiedtohelp improve theformulationʹssolvability.