A Goal Programming Approach for the Facility Layout Problem with Ergonomic Constraint


Adem A., Durmaz E. D., Şahin R., Dağdeviren M.

Sigma Journal of Engineering and Natural Sciences, vol.1, pp.1-22, 2023 (ESCI)

Abstract

In facility layout problems, ergonomic issues are generally not considered in the first place; instead, traditional layout aspects are taken into account. However, with the developing technology, legal responsibilities, and awareness of both the public and private sector to ergonomic issues, ergonomic concerns in designing any production area are getting more attention. The aim of this paper is to find an optimal single row facility layout arrangement taking into account both ergonomic and traditional layout aspects. The considered ergonomic feature is the noise exposure. If one worker exposure continuous high level of noise, temporary or permanent hearing loss may occur, which is not desired in the working life.  To show the effect of noise exposure on layout, a mathematical model with noise constraint was developed. Moreover, a goal programming model which takes noise exposure, closeness rates and material flow aspects as objectives was proposed.  Traditional Analytical Hierarchy Process was utilized to gain the weights of the objectives. The applicability of the model was demonstrated by the solution of a hypothetical problem. The proposed models were tested and validated on different conditions to find out the effect of noise exposure.