Title: The fuzzy p-median problem

Authors: Maria Jose Canos, Carlos Ivorra, Vicente Liern

Addresses: Departamento de Matematica Economico-Empresarial., Universidad de Valencia, Avinguda de Tarongers, s/n. Valencia 46071, Spain. ' Departamento de Matematica Economico-Empresarial., Universidad de Valencia, Avinguda de Tarongers, s/n. Valencia 46071, Spain. ' Departamento de Matematica Economico-Empresarial., Universidad de Valencia, Avinguda de Tarongers, s/n. Valencia 46071, Spain

Abstract: In many location models, the strong crisp assumptions, like known demands and distances, are not realistic in most cases. The fuzzy p-median problem relaxes this hypothesis giving to the decision maker a necessary degree of freedom to solve real-world problems. It allows a decision maker to improve an optimal covering of a location problem by considering partially feasible solutions in which some demand is left uncovered. Here we revise the main facts and results about this problem emphasising different specific algorithms of resolution. Finally we show that this fuzzy version can be used to analyse the global structure of a given instance of the crisp problem.

Keywords: fuzzy sets; location models; p-median; heuristic; genetic algorithms; decision making; fuzzy logic.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2004.006618

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2004 Vol.4 No.4, pp.365 - 381

Published online: 28 Mar 2005 *

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