Excel Solver constraints

[Guest]

A little background on the problem I'm trying to solve:

I'm trying to make excel figure out the idea layout of my shop (using x and
y coordinates of each machine) I have part sequences for individual parts of
what machines they travel to, and a total distance traveled. I'm trying to
minimize the total distance traveled by changing the coordinate cells that
represent the machine locations.

It works, only problem is that it sets all of the machines to the same
coordinates (obviously impossible because I cant stack machines one atop the
other).

How do i introduce a constraint that tells solver "do not use the same
coordinates for each machine"

I've tried making if statements that return a value of 1 of the machines do
not have the same coordinate, and -1 if they do and then introducing the
constraint where those cells must be greater than 0, but that doesn't seem to
work

any suggestions?

 

[Dana DeLouis]

I've tried making if statements that return a value of 1 of the machines

do
not have the same coordinate, and -1 if they do ...

Hi. In general, Excel's solver will not work with IF() functions because it
can not track "why" cell values change.
Feel free to send me your workbook, and I'll be glad to take a look at it.
Maybe we can come up with an alternative model.