Article ID: | iaor20042476 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 122 |
Issue: | 1 |
Start Page Number: | 21 |
End Page Number: | 42 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2003 |
Journal: | Annals of Operations Research |
Authors: | Erkut Erhan, Drezner Zvi, Alp Osman |
Keywords: | genetic algorithms, -median problem |
We propose a new genetic algorithm for a well-known facility location problem. The algorithm is relatively simple and its generates good solutions quickly. Evolution is facilitated by a greedy heuristic. Computational tests with a total of 80 problems from four different sources with 100 to 1,000 nodes indicate that the best solution generated by the algorithm is within 0.1% of the optimum for 85% of the problems. The coding effort and the computational effort required are minimal, making the algorithm a good choice for practical applications requiring quick solutions, or for upper-bound generation to speed up optimal algorithms.