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Finite-Size Facility Placement in the Presence of Barriers to Rectilinear Travel

Selçuk Sava, Rajan Batta, Rakesh Nagi

College of Engineering, KoÇ University, Istanbul, Turkey
Department of Industrial Engineering, 342 Bell Hall, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, New York 14260
Department of Industrial Engineering, 342 Bell Hall, University at Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, New York 14260
ssavas{at}ku.edu.tr
batta{at}acsu.buffalo.edu
nagi{at}buffalo.edu

We consider the placement (location and orientation) of a single finite-size (finite-area, arbitrary shape) facility in the plane under the assumption that all travel occurs according to the rectilinear (or Manhattan) metric in the presence of impenetrable barriers to travel. Facility users are distributed over a finite set of demand points. The facility serves the users via a service point (server) located on the boundary of the facility. We consider an interactive model in the sense that there is interaction between not only the facility and the users, but also among the users themselves. We identify the candidates for optimal placement(s) for a facility with a fixed orientation and then for a facility with a fixed server location. Finally, we present a heuristic for the solution of the general problem, when the location and orientation are both unknown.

Subject classifications: Facilities location: restricted location problems. Facilities layout: barriers to travel.
History: Received March 2000; revision received May 2001; revision received August 2001; accepted September 2001.