1. Introduction
The lack of enough space in cities and the exorbitant costs associated
with the provision of space, particularly in metropolitan
ones, force designers and engineers to consider multi-floor layouts
in organizations, plants, and corporations. Sometimes, environmental
factors and other important criterion are brought on to bear
on their considerations for designing multi-floor buildings. For
instance, in tropical areas, air-conditioning would be more efficient
in multi-floor buildings than in other ones with just one floor
(Goetschalckx & Irohara, 2007). Due to limited space in such buildings
for stocking materials, material flow, and the traffic of human
resources among departments, appropriate planning for the provision
of more space and the location of departments has had a very
wide appeal among researchers. Designers’ experience and experts’
opinions suggest that more than 65% of the system efficiency is
likely to be lost by applying incorrect layout and location designs
(Huang, Wong, & Tam, 2010). On the other hand, between 20%
and 50% of operating expenses in manufacturing can be attributed
to facility planning and material handling (Singh & Sharma, 2006).