Parameter Setting for a Genetic Algorithm Layout Planner as a Toll of Sustainable Manufacturing

• Main Authors: Martin Krajčovič, Viktor Hančinský, Ľuboslav Dulina, Patrik Grznár, Martin Gašo, Juraj Vaculík
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-04-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: sustainability; genetic algorithm; layout planning; model
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/7/2083

The long-term sustainability of the enterprise requires constant attention to the continuous improvement of business processes and systems so that the enterprise is still competitive in a dynamic and turbulent market environment. Improvement of processes must lead to the ability of the enterprise to increase production performance, the quality of provided services on a constantly increasing level of productivity and decreasing level of cost. One of the most important potentials for sustainability competitiveness of an enterprise is the continuous restructuring of production and logistics systems to continuously optimize material flows in the enterprise in terms of the changing requirements of customers and the behavior of enterprise system surroundings. Increasing pressure has been applied to projecting manufacturing and logistics systems due to labor intensity, time consumption, and costs for the whole technological projecting process. Moreover, it is also due to quality growth, complexity, and information ability of outputs generated from this process. One option is the use of evolution algorithms for space solution optimization for manufacturing and logistics systems. This method has higher quality results compared to classical heuristic methods. The advantage is the ability to leave specific local extremes. Classical heuristics are unable to do so. Genetic algorithms belong to this group. This article presents a unique genetic algorithm layout planner (GALP) that uses a genetic algorithm to optimize the spatial arrangement. In the first part of this article, there is a description of a framework of the current state of layout planning and genetic algorithms used in manufacturing and logistics system design, methods for layout design, and basic characteristics of genetic algorithms. The second part of the article introduces its own GALP algorithm. It is a structure which is integrated into the design process of manufacturing systems. The core of the article are parameters setting and experimental verification of the proposed algorithm. The final part of the article is a discussion about the results of the GALP application.