An expert system using priorities for solving multiple-criteria facility layout problems

In this paper we develop an expert system for multiple-criteria facility layout problems. The facility layout problem is identified as an ill-structured problem; our approach for solving it is based on expert systems and multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM). The expert system interacts with the decision maker (DM), and reflects the DM's preferences in the selection of rules and priorities. The inference engine is a forward-chaining reasoning procedure which is discussed in detail. The approach consists of two parts: (a) construction of a layout based on a set of rules and restrictions, and (b) improvement of the layout based on interaction with decision maker. The MCDM expert system approach considers and incorporates the multiple criteria in these two parts as follows. In (a) it uses priorities on the selection of rules, adjacency of departments, and departments for construction purposes. In (b) it uses different objectives such as materials handling cost, flexibility, and materials handling time for paired comparison of generated layouts for improvement purposes. Some experiments with the developed computer package are reported and an example is solved.