Multi-product maximal covering second-level facility location problem

Abstract

This paper introduces a new hierarchical facility location model with three levels: first-level facilities which manufacture different products, second-level facilities which act as warehouses and a third-level consisting of the clients who demand the products that have been manufactured in the first level and stored in the second level. In this model, called multi-product maximal covering second-level facility location problem (SL-MCFLP), the aim is to decide the location of the second-level facilities and the products to be stored in each of them maximizing the overall clients’ satisfaction with respect their coverage. To deal with this model, we introduce a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP) which is reinforced by some families of valid inequalities. Since some of these families have an exponential number of constraints, separation algorithms are proposed. In addition, three variants of a matheuristic procedure are developed. Computational studies are included, showing the potentials and limits of the formulation and the effectiveness of the heuristic.