OPTI 2014 An International Conference on Engineering and Applied Sciences Optimization Kos Island, Greece, 4-6 June 2014 A COMPARISON OF THREE NATURE-INSPIRED METAHEURISTICS FOR THE FACILITY LAYOUT PROBLEM (OPTI 2014) Sinem BÜYÜKSAATÇI 1* , Alp BARAY 2 1 Istanbul University Istanbul University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering Avcılar / İstanbul Turkey sinemb@istanbul.edu.tr 2 Istanbul University Istanbul University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering Avcılar / İstanbul Turkey abaray@istanbul.edu.tr Keywords: Single Row Facility Layout Problem, Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm, Firefly Algorithm, Bat Algorithm Abstract: Facility layout problem, which involves planning, designing and optimization of physical arrangement of resources, has significant impact on manufacturing systems. A good placement of facilities contributes to the overall efficiency of operations and reduces total operating expenses. Because of its importance, the facility layout problem has attracted attention of many researchers. However, layout problems are known as complex and generally NP-Hard problems. Due to the combinatorial nature of this problem, during the last decades, several metaheuristics have been applied to obtain efficient solutions. These approaches have also provided a new perspective on this area. In this study, a metaheuristic comparison for the single row facility layout problem is discussed. Three nature-inspired metaheuristics, which are bacterial foraging optimization algorithm, firefly algorithm and bat algorithm, implemented on some problems that are often used in literature. The optimal results of the algorithms are compared and summarized. 1032