Bi-level Simulated Annealing Algorithm for Facility Location Problem

The essence of all the facility location problems is to determine the location of the facility and the allocation of the demands of customers, which under the condition of the minimum of the cost. Based on this character and the idea of the standard simulated annealing algorithm, an all-purpose bi-level simulated annealing algorithm (BSA) is presented for the facility location problem. The BSA is divided into two layers as inner layer and outer layer to solve the problem. The outer algorithm is optimization for the decision of the facility location, and the inner algorithm is optimization for the allocation of customerpsilas demand under the given decision of the outer algorithm. Applications of two numerical examples with different scale denoted the algorithm is more effective than standard simulated annealing and other algorithms proposed to solve facility location problem.