Note—On the Complexity of Facilities Layout Problems

This note recognizes that not only flow dominance but also the number of facilities are important measures to determine the choice between computer algorithms and visual based methods for obtaining solutions to facilities layout problems. The upper and lower bounds of the value of flow dominance are derived as a function of the number of facilities. A complexity rating that is a function of the flow dominance and the upper and lower bound to the value of flow dominance is defined for facilities layout problems. This complexity rating is shown to provide a better measure of problem complexity than one based on flow dominance alone.