A New Computer Program for Plant Layout Design - OPDEP Optimal Plant Design and Evaluation Program.

The objective of this paper is to present a detailed explanation of the OPDEP plant layout program, and contrast it with ALDEP, the program upon which it is based. An explanation of the ALDEP program is presented first, along with a critique of its performance, then two improved versions are discussed. The first improved version, called ALRANDOM, merely generates layouts according to the modified output of a random number generator. The second version, called OPDEP, is considerably more sophisticated than the others, and generates its layouts according to a complex heuristic algorithm. This algorithm optimizes the department selection process by analyzing the portion of the layout already completed before making the next department selection. Detailed instructions for using the program, as well as methods for getting the best results from the program are provided. Finally, a comparison of the three programs on some example problems and conclusions of their performance are presented.