A reasonable workshop layout can effectively improve the process efficiency between equipment and reduce material handling costs. The injection molding machine production workshop of Company H was taken as the research object, and existing problems in the current workshop layout were identified through surveys and analysis with JACK software. A mathematical model for workshop layout optimization was constructed. To address the drawbacks of poor population diversity and slow convergence speed in the hunt-prey optimizer (HPO) algorithm, improvements were proposed, including the use of Cubic mapping, a forced switching mechanism, and a lens imaging reverse learning strategy. The improved hunt-prey optimizer (IHPO) was applied to solve the model, and compared with traditional algorithms. The results show that the optimal solutions for IHPO, HPO, genetic algorithm(GA), particle swarm optimization(PSO), grey wolf optimizer(GWO) are -0.343 0, -0.323 0, -0.342 2, -0.334 6, and -0.342 2 respectively, with standard deviations of 0.035 2, 9.183 6, 3.748 2, 8.919 3, and 5.635 5, indicating that the proposed algorithm has better optimization ability and stability than other algorithms when solving the workshop layout model. The optimized layout was validated through simulation using JACK, eliminating safety factors such as the risk of lower back injury for workers. The research findings effectively improve the current situation of the injection molding machine production workshop.