Measuring Facility Layout Complexity

Abstract

A new method for the measurement of the complexity of a facility layout problem is described which can be viewed as the degree of ease (unease) with which a given number of facilities can be optimally arranged. The existing approaches, namely, coefficient of variation and problem complexity rating, do not always produce consistent results. In the proposed approach, a cost matrix is converted into a similarity coefficient matrix and the standard deviation of the elemental values of a similarity coefficient matrix is used to determine layout complexity. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated through examples and the results are shown to be consistent and reasonably acceptable.

Citation

Waghodekar, P.H. and Sahu, S. (1987), "Measuring Facility Layout Complexity", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 74-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054787