Article ID: | iaor2009123 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 179 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 956 |
End Page Number: | 967 |
Publication Date: | Jun 2007 |
Journal: | European Journal of Operational Research |
Authors: | Drezner Zvi, Wesolowsky George O., Berman Oded, Averbakh Igor |
Keywords: | combinatorial optimization, optimization |
We consider a generalization of the uncapacitated facility location problem, where the setup cost for a facility and the price charged for service may depend on the number of customers patronizing the facility. Customers are represented by the nodes of the transportation network, and facilities can be located only at nodes; a customer selects a facility to patronize so as to minimize his (her) expenses (price for service + the part of transportation costs paid by the customer). We assume that transportation costs are paid partially by the service company and partially by customers. The objective is to choose locations for facilities and balanced prices so as to either minimize the expenses of the service company (the sum of the total setup cost and the total part of transportation costs paid by the company), or to maximize the total profit. A polynomial-time dynamic programming algorithm for the problem on a tree network is developed.