Heuristic algorithm for the design of facilities layout and AGV routes in tandem AGV systems

Abstract

Considering the necessity for the integrated design of facilities layout and material handling systems, this paper develops a heuristic algorithm to solve the facilities layout and AGV routes problems simultaneously in a tandem automated guided vehicle (AGV) system. A tandem AGV system is composed of several nonoverlapping closed loops; each loop is traversed by a vehicle. Based on this system in which bi-directional vehicles are used, distance and material now between pickup/deposit stations are considered simultaneously during the design of the facilities layout. In the meantime, several transit stations would handle the transportation between loops. As its subject, this paper proposes a heuristic algorithm to implement the facilities layout within each loop and the route of each vehicle in order to reduce the material handling cost It is proved that the heuristic algorithm is polynomial time complexity with O(n(4)).