Advances in discrete material handling system design

The paper presents an outline of the research done in the area of facility layout and discrete material handling system design. The objective of this paper is to observe the trend in the literature in the area of manufacturing system design and predict the direction of future research in this area. The paper attempts to link the areas of facility layout design and material flow network design. A methodology for solving the integrated design problem is presented. An algorithm which aids in solving the combined pick-up/drop-off point location and material handling flowpath problem is outlined.