A Multivariate/Multi-Attribute Approach for the Plant Layout Design

This paper presents a framework for solving plant layout design problem. The integrated approach discussed in this paper is based on multivariate and multiattribute analysis. Layout design often has a significant impact on the performance of a manufacturing or service industry system and is usually a multiple objective problem. This paper proposes an integrated analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and principal component analysis (PCA) approach to solve a plant layout design problem. A computer-aided layout-planning tool was used to generate a considerable numbers of layout alternatives. The qualitative performance measures were weighted by AHP. PCA was then used to solve the multiple-objective layout problem. An example illustrated the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. The validity of the model is verified and validated by numerical taxonomy (NT) approach. Furthermore, a nonparametric correlation method, namely, Spearman correlation experiment shows high level of correlation between the findings of PCA and NT. The results of such studies would help policy makers and top managers to have better understanding and improve existing systems with respect to facility layout performance. The results of PCA AHP have been compared with a previous study which considers DEA and AHP approach. Furthermore, the PCA AHP approach presents more useful and exact results.

Keywords:

Plant layout , PCA , AHP , Numerical Taxonomy