Metaheuristics for solving facility location optimization problem

Abstract

The increasing demand of optimization to various aspect of real-life complex combinatorial problems have seen a directly increase proportion of the use of metaheuristics as a technique many researchers applied to solve such problems. This is as a result of its flexibility, yet a complex approach that takes into consideration domain specific entities on how the problems are solve. One of such combinatorial problem applicable to real life issues is the facility location problem. Hence, this study sought to describe the concept of facility location problem, the techniques used to solve FLP (facility location problem) and real life application of FLP. Particle swarm optimization, genetic algorithm and tabu search are the most common metaheuristics used as solution tools to solving facility location problem from the review carried out. From the review, we recommended the application of more hybridized techniques to solve FLP in other to achieve better result.

Keywords: Metaheuristics, Facility Location Problem (FLP), Optimization