Abstract
Due to the growing consequences faced as a result of global warming and climate change; humanity has come together to take an inclusive stance to combat this serious phenomena and work towards a more sustainable future. Large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions are a major contributor to global warming, and a vast proportion of this emission come from industrial and commercial facilities. Hence, if industrial facilities are built with a larger focus on carbon footprint, it will yield a significant reduction in global emissions throughout the lifetime of the facility and will constitute a huge milestone in the journey to Net Zero. This research focuses on advancing facility layout planning (FLP) methodologies through the integration of sustainability metrics and the combination of different layout improvement techniques. Using an industrial adhesives facility in Cairo as a case study, the study evaluates the effectiveness of ALDEP and CRAFT algorithms and their combination in achieving improved layouts. Key metrics include reductions in material handling (MH) costs, carbon dioxide emissions, and adjacency-based scoring (ABS) improvements. The study incorporates a quantitative carbon emission penalty factor to align cost efficiency with environmental sustainability, resulting in 27.3% annual cost saving in material handling costs, and 41% annual cost reduction in material handling costs factoring in the sustainability penalty. As shown by the mentioned cost reductions; replacing traditional diesel-powered material handling equipment (MHE) with electric alternatives, the improved facility layout achieved significant reductions in operational costs and environmental impact. The analysis highlights that ALDEP trial 5 provided the most efficient layout, with increased production rates, improved ABS, and significant cost and carbon emission reductions. Combination of ALDEP and CRAFT improved the performance of lower-quality layouts and the initial facility, but yielded no improvement for the best-performing ALDEP trial due to the size limitations and small scale of the facility. This study emphasizes the importance of incorporating sustainability metrics into FLP methodologies and provides a modified framework for designing cost-effective and environmentally sustainable industrial facilities.
School
School of Sciences and Engineering
Department
Mechanical Engineering Department
Degree Name
MS in Mechanical Engineering
Graduation Date
Spring 2-19-2025
Submission Date
1-27-2025
First Advisor
Mohamed Badran
Committee Member 1
Ahmed Mohib
Committee Member 2
Mohamed Gadallah
Committee Member 3
Mohamed Aly
Extent
138 p.
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval
Not necessary for this item
Recommended Citation
APA Citation
Atia, I.
(2025).Incorporating Sustainability in Facility Layout Planning Algorithms and Assessing Hybridization Techniques on an Egyptian Case Study [Master's Thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2444
MLA Citation
Atia, Islam. Incorporating Sustainability in Facility Layout Planning Algorithms and Assessing Hybridization Techniques on an Egyptian Case Study. 2025. American University in Cairo, Master's Thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain.
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2444
Included in
Industrial Engineering Commons, Operational Research Commons, Other Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons