Application of the traveling salesman problem heuristics to the reallocation of equipment in a small-size bakery aiming at minimizing bread production time

Summary form only given. This paper presents a case study of a small-size bakery whose problem is the reallocation of production equipment. The owner of the establishment intends to modify the current position of the warehouse, since raw material must be handled along the production system in order to be stored, jeopardizing the motion of bakers. This modification, though, would affect the location of the remaining equipment. The reallocation of the warehouse and equipment, obtained via the application of the traveling salesman problem heuristics, will reduce the total distance covered by the bakers, thereby avoiding the flow of raw material throughout the production system, and possibly increasing throughput. Before the implementation of the solutions generated by the heuristics, two simulation models will be created in Arena software 5.0, one representing the current configuration, and the other representing the proposed configuration, so as to validate the results.