Two step facility layout optimization of an Indian bus body manufacturing plant using artificial bee colony algorithm and its variants

Facility layout of a plant directly impacts its processing times. For a plant, it is always important to minimize the interdepartmental material movement and maximize space utilization, which is accomplished through Facility layout optimization. By its nature, facility layout optimization problem is NP-complete. In this work, the facility layout of an Indian bus body manufacturer is considered for layout optimization. The existing facility layout was evaluated after which a two-step optimization procedure was applied to minimize interdepartmental movement of both semi-finished busses and other materials by using artificial bee colony algorithm and its variants. The study focused only on relocation of facilities into alternate positions to ensure smooth flow. The results exhibited considerable reduction in the interdepartmental movement of semi-finished busses as well as other materials.