Fixed-charge facility location problems in location science

Abstract

Fixed-Charge Facility Location Problems are among core problems in Location Science. There is a finite set of users with demand of service and a finite set of potential locations for the facilities that will offer service to users. Two types of decisions must be made: Location decisions determine where to establish the facilities whereas allocation decisions dictate how to satisfy the users demand from the established facilities. Potential applications of various types arise in many different contexts. We provide an overview of the main elements that may intervene in the modeling and the solution process of Fixed-Charge Facility Location Problems, namely, modeling hypotheses and their implications, characteristics of formulations and their relation to other formulations, properties of the domains, and appropriate solution techniques.