Comprehensive Redesign of Industrial Facilities

设施设计在很长一段时间内对组织的效率、灵活性和经济效益有着深远的影响。设施设计的问题是众所周知的，然而它几乎总是被作为“绿地”设计问题来研究，即一个全新的设施的设计。然而，这个项目的重点是重新设计现有的设施。重新设计很重要，因为设施通常寿命较长，运营要求会随着时间的推移而变化。在重新设计时，需要考虑一些与初始设计无关或不太重要的约束条件。这项研究将开发一个全面的、集成的框架，明确地侧重于重新设计，同时考虑生产的不确定性。部门或工作中心位置的区块设计与过道结构、物料搬运系统、机器布置和输入/输出位置的详细设计相结合。另一个目标是通过将流道距离度量的选择与物料输送系统的类型相匹配，并明确考虑产品预测和生产方法的不确定性，来改进设计优化目标函数。对不确定性的稳健性和对未来变化的灵活性的概念将纳入通常的费用目标。这项研究的结果将导致改善制造和服务运营的设施设计。直接收益将包括更高的工作效率、更低的成本和更好的客户服务。为了确保工业相关性和加强技术转让，这项研究将涉及与具有非常多样化的生产环境的制造商合作，提供实际的重新设计问题数据，评估开发的方法和软件，并为学生提供工业体验。这项研究的传播将通过美国物资搬运行业的大学行业委员会(CIC-MHE)以及通常的会议、网站和参考出版物进行。通过使用CIC-MHE渠道，结果应该及时到达广大从业者、教育工作者和研究人员手中。

Facility design has a profound effect on the efficiency, flexibility and economic success of an organization over a long time period. The problem of facility design is well known, however it has almost always been studied as the "greenfield" design problem, that is, the design of a wholly new facility. This project, however, focuses on redesign of existing facilities. Redesign is important because facilities typically have longlifetimes and operational requirements change over time. In redesign there are constraints to be considered that were not relevant, or were less important, in the initial design. This research will develop acomprehensive, integrated framework that explicitly focuses on redesign and while considering production uncertainty. Block design of the location of departments or work centers is integrated with the detailed design of aisle structure, material handling system, machine placement and input/output locations. Another objective is to improve the design optimization objective function by matching the choice of flowpath distance metric with the type of material handling system and explicitly considering uncertainty of product forecasts and production methods. The notions of robustness to uncertainty and flexibility for future changes will be incorporated into the usual cost objectives. The results this research will lead to improved facilities designs for both manufacturing and service operations. Direct benefits will include higher productivity, reduced costs, and enhanced customer service. To ensure industrial relevance and to enhance technology transfer, this research will involve working with a manufacturer with very diverse production environments to provide actual redesign problem data, to evaluate the methodologies and software developed, and to provide an industrial experience for students. Dissemination of this research will be conducted through the College Industry Council on Material Handling Education (CIC-MHE) of the Material Handling Industry of America, along with the usual channels of conferences, web sites and refereed publications. By using the CIC-MHE conduit, results should reach a wide audience of practitioners, educators and researchers in a timely manner.