Optimal design for competitive service facilities under certainty using an improved differential evaluation algorithm

This paper presents a simultaneous optimization model of location and server allocation for a company that enters into a competitive market. The goal is company's profit maximization. Customers are likely to select the facility based on price, travel time and queue time. Furthermore, as a contribution to the literature, it is assumed that customer awareness of the levels of waiting times in the facilities will increase in stages and over the successive uses of the facilities network. Demand is defined elastic and as a function of the customer's desirability of network’s design and the cost of delivering service at a facility is defined as a function of its demand attraction. An improved differential evolution algorithm has been developed to solve the model and sample problems to demonstrate its efficiency have been solved.