Instructor: R.L. Francis, 378 Weil Hall (Office: Pds. 7 & 8, M-W)

Text: Francis, R.L., L. F. McGinnis and J.A. White, Facility Layout and Location: an Analytical Approach, second edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 1992.

Corequisite: ESI 6314, Deterministic Methods of Operations Research, or the equivalent (knowledge of linear programming necessary). A knowledge of Excel is assumed.
 
 

Chapters 4 through 8 of the text in that order, plus selected additional material on robotic layout, selected papers, and a project.
 

The midterm and project each count 40 %, the homework counts 20%. Projects, discussed below, must be approved by the instructor. The midterm will be take-home, open notes and book.
 
 

Jan. 17: School holiday (Martin Luther King day)

Jan 31: Deadline to agree with instructor on choice of project

March 6 – 10: Spring Break (no classes)

March 15: Receive midterm

March 17: No class

March 20: Midterm due

April 26: Project Due
 
 

Homework will be due once a week, at the first of the hour on Monday. Homework assignments will be announced at least a week in advance.
 

The purpose of this course is to provide a knowledge of fundamental location and layout problems, and of basic analytical tools for solving them.
 
 

Possible projects include the following:

1), read, evaluate, and report on several papers or research reports,

2) implement – and document – one or more algorithms on a PC or work station,

3) study a real location or layout problem and try to improve upon the current situation using analytical tools developed in the course.

4) You are free to suggest to the instructor a project that interests you, and this is probably more satisfactory than choosing one the instructor recommends. If you are at a loss to choose a project, the instructor can suggest some.
 

Your project must have the instructor's approval.
 

Comments on the above suggestions follow:

1) This item seems virtually self-explanatory. Many references to papers come at the ends of the chapters. The instructor may be able to suggest others as well, if you identify an area of particular interest.

2) Any code you write must be implemented on a PC or work station. Do not underestimate the problem of making a code easy to use for someone totally unfamiliar with its workings.

The instructor can suggest possible projects, including ones related to codes he has written such as DMAP, SHOWMAP, and aggregation code which will be demonstrated in class.

3) Many warehouses operate in the Gainesville area, and a study of warehouse layout problems is entirely feasible. You could look into improving upon an existing layout by using the methodology of Chapter 5 (ask about the warehouse layout code, WHAP). Usually such a project is most suitable for American citizens, due to potential communication difficulties.

Alternatively, find an interesting location problem and see if you can improve on the existing solution.
 

The quickest way to learn something about a new topic of academic interest is to look for books and recent review papers in the area. Books tend to concentrate on more basic material than review papers, but may not be as current as recent review papers. Review papers tend to be more specialized than books, but sometimes they can be quite general. Below are listed some of the major books on location and layout, as well as principal review papers. Most of the literature relates to location, with the exception of the book by Tompkins and White, and the review paper by Kusiak and Heragu.
 

Daskin, M., Network and Discrete Location: Models, Algorithms and Applications, J. Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 1995.

Domschke, W. and A. Drexl (1984) Logistik: Standorte. R. Oldebourg Verlag, Munich, Germany.

Drezner, Z. ed. (1995) Facility location: a survey of applications and methods. Springer Verlag, NY.

Francis, R. L. and J. A. White, Facility Layout & Location: an Analytical Approach, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1974.

Francis, R. L., L. F. McGinnis and J. A. White, Facility Layout & Location: an Analytical Approach, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1992 (second edition).

Ghosh, A. and G. Rushton, eds. (1989) Spatial analysis and location-allocation models. Van-Nostrand Reinhold, NY.

Handler, G. Y. and P. B. Mirchandani, Location on Networks, The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA 1979.

Hurter, A. P. and J. S. Martinich (1989) Facility location and the theory of production. Kluwer, Norwell, MA.

Konz, S., Facility Design: Manufacturing Engineering, second edition, Publishing Horizons Inc., Scottsdale, AZ, 1993.

Love, R. F., Morris, J. G. and G. O. Wesolowsky, Facilities Location: Models and Methods, North Holland Publishing Co., New York, 1988.

Mirchandani, P. B. and R. L. Francis, Discrete Location Theory, J. Wiley & Sons, NY, 1990.

Thisse, J. F. and H. G. Zoller (editors), Locational Analysis of Public Facilities, North Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 1983

Tompkins, J. A. J. A. White, Y. A. Bozer, E. H. Frazelle, M. M. A. Tanchoco and J. Trevino, Facilities Planning, J. Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, second edition, 1996.
 
 

Revelle, C., Marks, D. and J. C. Liebman, "An Analysis of Private and Public Sector Location Models," Management Science, 16 (11), 692-707, 1970.

Francis, R. L. and J. M. Goldstein, "Location Theory: a Selective Bibliography, Operations Research, 22, 400-410, 1974.

Krarup, J. and P. M. Pruzan, "Selected Families of Location Problems," Annals of Discrete Mathematics, 5, 327-387, 1979.

Francis, R. L. McGinnis, L. F. and J. A. White, "Locational Analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, 12 (3), 220-252, 1983.

Tansel, B. C., Francis, R. L. and T. J. Lowe, "Location on Networks: a Survey. Part I: the p-Center and p-Median Problems," Management Science, 29 (4), 482-497, 1983.

Tansel, B. C., Francis, R. L. and T. J. Lowe, "Location on Networks: a Survey. Part II: Exploiting Tree Structure," Management Science, 29 (4), 498-511, 1983.

Aikens, C. H., "Facility Location Models for Distribution Planning," European Journal of Operational Research, 22 (3), 263-279, 1985.

Domschke, W. and A. Drexl, "Location and Layout Planning: an International Bibliography," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, 238, Springer Verlag, Berlin and New York, 1985.

Kusiak, A. and S. S. Heragu, "The Facility Layout Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, 29 (3), 229-251, 1987.

Hansen, P., M. Labbe, D. Peeters and J.-F. Thisse, "Single Facility Location on Networks," Annals of Discrete Mathematics, 31, 113-145, 1987.

Brandeau, M. L. and S. S. Chiu, "An Overview of Representative Problems in Location Research," Management Science, 35 (6), 645-674, 1989.

Erkut, E. and Neumann, S., "Analytical Models for Locating Undesirable Facilities," European Journal of Operational Research, 40, 275-291, 1989.

Meller, R. D. and K-Y Gau, "The Facility Layout Problem: Recent and Emerging Trends and Perspectives", Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 15, 5, 351-366 (1996)

Mavridou, T. D. and P. M. Pardalos, "Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithms for the Facility Layout Problem: a Survey", Computational Optimization and Applications, 7, 111-126 (1997).

Domschke, W. and G. Krispin, "Location and Layout Planning: a Survey," OR Spektrum, 19, 181-194 (1997).
 

Other References of Interest (mostly layout)

Johnson, R. V., "SPACECRAFT for Multi-Floor Layout Planning," Management Science, 28, 4, 407-417 (1982).

Jacobs, F. R., "A Note on SPACECRAFT for Multi-floor Layout Planning," Management Science, 3, 5, 648-649 (1984).

Bozer, U. A., R. D. Meller and S. J. Erlebacher, "An Improvement-type Layout Algorithm for Single and Multiple-floor Facilities," Management Science, 40, 7, 918-931 (1994)

R. D. Meller and Bozer, U. A., "A New Simulated Annealing Algorithm for the Facility Layout Problem," International Journal of Production Research, 34, 6, 1675-1692 (1996)

Cheraghi, S. H., E. A. Lehtihet and P. J. Egbelu, "Design and Characterization of a Vision-Assisted System for Surface-Mount Component Placement," IIE Transactions, 28, 10,855-864, 1996.

R. D. Meller and Bozer, U. A., "Alternative Approaches to Solve Multi-floor Facility Layout Problems," Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 16, 3, 192-203 (1997).

Suresh, N. C. and J. M. Kay (eds), Group Technology and Cellular Manufacturing: State-of-the-Art Synthesis of Research and Practice, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 1997. (ISBN 0-7923-8080-0, 568 pages).

de Koster, R. and E. van der Poort, "Routing order pickers in a warehouse: a comparison between optimal and heuristic solutions," IIE Transactions, 30, 5, (1998), 469-480.