The status of a department can be set to have either free or fixed location. Setting the layout position to free will later on allow the department to be moved in the block layout improvement steps. Setting the layout position to fixed will prevent this department to be part of a department exchange in the block layout improvement steps.
However, other departments may move around this particular department, causing the location of this department to be moved even though it is fixed. For example, if a department is fixed and located on the perimeter of the adjacency graph, the department may still move to the center of the block layout caused by a sequence of exchanges involving other departments. There is currently no status switch that keeps a department exactly in its original location in the block layout.