Solving multi objective facility layout problem by modified simulated annealing

•Modified simulated annealing has been applied for solving multi objective facility layout problem (MOFLP).•Proposed approach in paper makes the multi objective layout design process independent of decision maker.•Proposed modified simulated annealing is efficient and effective in solving large sized MOFLP.

This paper proposes a modified simulated annealing approach for solving multi objective facility layout problem. Multi objective facility layout problem is solved by using different objective weights which are generated by decision maker. Thus layout design process is decision maker dependent. However proposed approach in this paper makes layout design process independent of decision maker. Proposed approach can also incorporate any number of objectives that may be qualitative or quantitative in nature. Computational results show superiority of proposed heuristic approach than other approaches available in literature. Finally, comparison was also made with best solution qualities for the 15 single objective test problems of Nugxx series taken from QAPLIB. Comparisons were made in terms of the quality of the solutions obtained and the computational time required and this comparison shows efficiency and effectiveness of proposed modified simulated annealing algorithm.