A hybrid Firefly-Genetic Algorithm for the capacitated facility location problem

Capacitated facility location problem (CFLP) is a well-known combinatorial optimization problem with applications in distribution and production planning that is classified as an NP-Hard problem. The aim is to determine where to locate facilities and how to move commodities such that the customers' demands are satisfied and the total cost minimized. In this paper, a new hybrid optimization method called Hybrid Evolutionary Firefly-Genetic Algorithm is proposed, which is inspired by social behavior of fireflies and the phenomenon of bioluminescent communication. The method combines the discrete Firefly Algorithm (FA) with the standard Genetic Algorithm (GA). It is devoted to the detailed description of the problem, and an adaption of the algorithm. Computational results on random generated problems consisting of 2000 locations and 2000 customers are reported. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.