Computerized Relative Allocation of Facilities Technique (CRAFT)

CRAFT algorithm was originally developed by Armour and Buffa. It is an improvement algorithm. It starts
with an initial layout and improves the layout by interchanging the departments pairwise so that the
transport cost is minimized. The algorithm continues until no further interchanges are possible to
reduce the transportation cost. The result given by CRAFT is not optimum in terms of minimum cost of
transportation. But the result will be good and close to optimum in majority of applications. Hence,
CRAFT is mainly a heuristic algorithm. Unfortunately, plant layout problem comes under combinatorial
category. So, usage of efficient heuristic like CRAFT is inevitable for such problem.

CRAFT requirements

1. Initial layout
2. Flow data or Load summary
3. Cost per unit distance
4. Total number of departments
5. Fixed departments
Number of such departments
Location of those departments
6. Area of departments.

CRAFT Procedure

The steps of CRAFT algorithm are summarized below:

Step1. Input:

1. Number of departments
2. Number of interchangeable departments
3. Initial layout
4. Cost matrix
5. Flow matrix (Load summary)
6. Area of departments.

Step2. Compute centroids of departments in the present layout.

Step3. Form distance matrix using the centroids.

Step4. Given data on flow, distance and cost, compute the total handling cost of the present layout.

Step5. Find all the possible pairwise interchanges of departments based on common border or equal
area criterion. For each possibility, interchange the corresponding centroids and compute approximate
costs.

Step6. Find the pair of departments corresponding to the minimum handling cost from among all the
possible pairs of interchanges.
Step7. Is the cost in the previous step less than the total cost of the present layout? If yes, go to step 8. If
not, go to step 11.

Step8. Interchange the selected pair of departments. Call this as the NEW LAYOUT. Compute centroids,
distance matrix and total cost.

Step9. Is the cost of new layout less than the cost of the present layout? If yes, go to Step 10. If not, go
to step 11.

Step10. The new layout is here after considered as the PRESENT LAYOUT. Its data on centroids, layout
matrix and the total cost is retained. Go to step5.

Step11. Print the present layout as the FINAL LAYOUT.

Step12. Stop.

Application of CARFT

The CRAFT algorithm can be applied using a numerical example as shown in the following example.

Example

Step1. Input for an example problem.

Total number of departments: 5

Total number of interchangeable departments: 5

Initial Layout

4 2 4
4 1 5 4
4 2 3
4 6

Cost Matrix [cij]

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 1 1 1 1
2 1 - 1 1 1
3 1 1 - 1 1
4 1 1 1 - 1
5 1 1 1 1 -
In the above matrix, the cell values represent transportation costs per unit distance from Department i
to Department j.
Flow Matrix (Load Summary)

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 5 2 4 0
2 0 - 2 5 0
3 2 0 - 0 5
4 3 0 1 - 0
5 0 0 2 0 -
In this table, cell values represent the flow in terms of number of trips in a given period of time from
Department i to Department j.

Question: Obtain an improved layout by using the CRAFT pairwise interchange procedure

Solution: For the initial layout the interdepartmental distances are calculated. In CRAFT these distances
are measured from the centroid of one department to the centroid of the other department.

Area of Departments

Department 1 2 3 4 5
Area (Sq. 16 16 24 16 8
Units)

Step2. Centroids of all the departments in the initial layout are calculated and presented below. Here,
the left side of the layout is assumed as Y axis and the bottom side of the layout is assumed as the X axis.

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 8, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 5, 6

Step3. The distance between any two departments is represented by rectilinear distance between the
centroids of the two departments.

dij = |Xi – Xj| + |Yi – Yj|

where (Xi, Yi) and (Xj, Yj) are the centroids of the Departments i and j, respectively.
The distance matrix is calculated as below

Distance Matrix [dij]

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 9 6 3
2 4 - 5 10 7
3 9 5 - 5 6
4 6 10 5 - 3
5 3 7 6 3 -

Step4. Total cost of handling for the present layout is calculated.

5 5
Total cost = 
i 1 j 1
f ij  dij  cij where,

is the flow from Department i to the Department j.

is the distance from Department i to the Department j.

cij is Cost/Unit distance of travel/trip.

Cost Matrix [Cij]

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 20 18 24 0
2 0 - 10 50 0
3 18 0 - 0 30
4 18 0 5 - 0
5 0 0 12 0 -
Total Cost = 205

Step5. Consider various departmental interchanges for improvement. Department interchanges that are
possible are given below.

 Departments having common border.

 Departments having equal area.

Pairwise interchanges are considered. If there are N departments, theoretically, NC2 pairwise
interchanges are possible. For the present problem at this stage, eight interchanges are possible.
Pair of Departments Remark
1 and 2 Interchange based on common border

1 and 3 Not possible

1 and 4 Interchange based on equal area
1 and 5 Interchange based on common border
2 and 3 Interchange based on common border
2 and 4 Interchange based on equal area
2 and 5 Not possible
3 and 4 Interchange based on common border
3 and 5 Interchange based on common border
4 and 5 Interchange based on common border

For the purpose of cost calculation, an interchange between two departments would mean that their
present centroids are interchanged.

For each interchange, the associated distance matrix is calculated. Then the total cost of handling is
calculated.

Interchange between 1 and 2. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 2

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 6

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 8, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 5, 6

Distance matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 5 10 7
2 4 - 9 6 3
3 5 9 - 5 6
4 10 6 5 - 3
5 7 3 6 3 -
Total cost = 205.

Interchange between 1 and 4. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 8, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

 Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 2, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 5, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 10 5 6 3
2 10 - 5 4 7
3 5 5 - 9 6
4 6 4 9 - 3
5 3 7 6 3 -
Total Cost = 193

Interchange between 1 and 5. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 5, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 8, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 2, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 7 6 3 3
2 7 - 5 10 4
3 6 5 - 5 9
4 3 10 5 - 6
5 3 4 9 6 -
Total Cost = 208

Interchange between 2 and 3. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 7, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 2, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 8, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 5, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 9 4 6 3
2 9 - 5 5 6
3 4 5 - 10 7
4 6 5 10 - 3
5 3 6 7 3 -
Total Cost = 197

Interchange between 2 and 4. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 8, 6

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 2, 2

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 5, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 6 9 4 3
2 6 - 5 10 3
3 9 5 - 5 6
4 4 10 5 - 7
5 3 3 6 7 -
Total Cost = 201.

Interchange between 3 and 4. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 8, 6

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 7, 2

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 5, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 6 9 3
2 4 - 10 5 7
3 6 10 - 5 3
4 9 5 5 - 6
5 3 7 3 6 -
Total cost = 178

Interchange between 3 and 5. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 5, 6

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 8, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 7, 2

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 3 6 9
2 4 - 7 10 5
3 3 7 - 3 6
4 6 10 3 - 5
5 9 5 6 5 -
Total Cost = 183.

Interchange between 4 and 5. Centroids after interchange:

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 5, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 8, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 9 3 6
2 4 - 5 7 10
3 9 5 - 6 5
4 3 7 6 - 3
5 6 10 5 3 -
Total Cost = 163.

Table: Summary of approximate total cost due to pairwise interchange of centroids.

Pairwise interchange Cost
1 and 2 205
1 and 4 193
1 and 5 208
2 and 3 197
2 and 4 201
3 and 4 178
3 and 5 183
4 and 5 163

Step6. The interchange which gives minimum cost is selected for actual interchange in the layout. The
interchange between 4 and 5 results into minimum cost of 163.

Step7. This cost is compared with the cost of the present layout. Only if the cost due to proposed
interchange is less than the present layout cost, the interchange is to be actually made. Otherwise go to
Step11.

In the problem considered, the approximate handling cost of 163 is less than the present layout cost of
205. Hence, go to Step8.

Step8. Interchange can be made between 4 and 5. The layout after making actual interchange between
Departments 4 and 5 is shown. This is called New Layout.

New Layout:

4 4 2
4 1 4 5
4 2 3
4 6
The Centroids are

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

 Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 7, 2

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 6, 6

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 9, 6

Distance Matrix

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 9 4 7
2 4 - 5 8 11
3 9 5 - 5 6
4 4 8 5 - 3
5 7 11 6 3 -
Total cost = 181.

Step9. The cost of the New Layout is compared with the cost of the Present Layout.

If the cost of the New Layout is less than the cost of the Present Layout, then we treat the New Layout
as the Present Layout and go to Step 5. Otherwise go to Step 11.

In the problem, the new layout cost is 181 which is less than the present layout cost of 205. Hence, we
treat the new layout as the present layout and go to Step 5.

Step5. Applying the rule of common border or equal area, all the possible pairwise interchanges are
considered.

For each possibility, the centroids are interchanged and the resulting distance matrix and the total cost
of handling are computed. The results are given in the following Table.

Table: Total cost due to pairwise interchange

Interchange Pair Interchange Rule Total Cost

1 and 2 Common border 181
1 and 3 - -
1 and 4 Common border 169
1 and 5 - -
2 and 3 Common border 209
2 and 4 Equal area 181
2 and 5 - -
3 and 4 Common border 166
3 and 5 Common border 183
4 and 5 Recently interchanged. So need -
not be considered

Step6. In the previous step, 166 is the minimum total cost. Corresponding pair is 3 and 4.
Step7. This minimum cost of 166 is less than the present layout cost of 181. Hence go to Step 8.

Step8. Interchange the selected pair of Departments 3 and 4. Call this as the New Layout. This is shown
below:

4 4 2
4 1 3 5

4 2
4
4 6

The Centroids are

Department 1: (X1, Y1) = 2, 6

Department 2: (X2, Y2) = 2, 2

Department 3: (X3, Y3) = 6, 5

Department 4: (X4, Y4) = 7.5, 1.5

Department 5: (X5, Y5) = 9, 6

Note. The formula to compute centroid for irregular shaped department is given below.

is the X coordinate of the centroid of the ith portion of the department.

is the Y coordinate of the centroid of the ith portion of the department.

ai is the area of the ith portion

n be the number of regular shaped portions in the department.

If the shape of a particular department is irregular, then that is divided into several regular shaped
portions. Then the following formulae can be applied to compute the X and Y coordinates of the
centroid of the given department.

=
Computation of centroid for irregular shaped Department 4.

P1 P2

4 4 2

The Department 4 is divided into two regular shaped departments, P1 and P2.

8 6  8 9 8 1  8  2
X  7.5 ; Y   1.5
88 88

Distance Matrix:

From/To 1 2 3 4 5
1 - 4 5 10 7
2 4 - 7 6 11
3 5 7 - 5 4
4 10 6 5 - 6
5 7 11 4 6 -
Total Cost = 187

Step9. The cost of the New Layout is compared with the cost of the Present Layout. As the cost of the
New Layout (187) is not less than the cost of the Present Layout (181), go to Step11.

Step11. Print the Present Layout as the final layout.

4 4 2
4 1 4 5
4 2 3
4 6
Final Layout

Total cost of final layout = 181.