Hybrid Genetic Algorithm with Fuzzy Logic Controller for Obstacle Location-Allocation Problem

Location-allocation problem is known as one of the important problems faced in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research fields. One of important logistic tasks is transfer of manufactured products from plants to customers. If there is a need to supply products to large number of customers in a wide area, it is disadvantageous to deliver products from the only central distribution center or direct from plants. It is suitable to build up local distribution centers. In literature, different location models have been used according to characteristics of a distribution area. However, most of them related the location problem without obstacle. In this paper, an extended location-allocation problem with obstacles is considered. Since this problem is very complex and with many infeasible solutions, no direct method is effective to solve it, we propose a hybrid Genetic Algorithm (hGA) for effectively solving this problem. The proposed hGA combines two efficient methods based on Lagrangian relaxation and Dijkstra’s shortest path algorithm. To improve the performance of the proposed hGA, a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) approach is also adopted to auto-tune the GA parameters.