Abstract
The variable capacity sizing and selection of connections in the facilities design context is discussed for the first time in the open literature. A connection is defined as the connected part that links different sets of departments through which some interdepartmental material flows must go. The goal of the problem is to select the location and capacity of the connections so as to minimize the sum of the fixed connection installation costs and material movement cost in the material handling system. Computational results are reported. Findings indicate that the discrete version of the problem can be effectively solved with the Lagrangian heuristic.