The Multi-objective Capacitated Facility Location Problem for Green Logistics

Traditionally, the capacitated facility location problem (CFLP), which builds the basis for various location models in logistics network design, is treated as a single objective optimization problem, and focuses on minimum economic cost. Recent concerns regarding environmental pollution and commercial competition, however, are shifting the focus of modeling to incorporate not only service objectives but also environmental objectives. This paper presents a multi-objective CFLP model to trade off among economic cost, service level, and environmental impact. A hybrid evolutionary approach, which combines the fast Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) and the greedy algorithm, is employed to generate the Pareto-optimal solutions. Test results show that the proposed method can offer decision makers an informed choice of compromise solutions and is an effective toolkit can be used in facility location for green logistics.