Facility Location Problems with Multiple Objectives and Decision Criteria: A Review of Current Trends in Research

A significant amount of academic material has been developed for Facility Location Problems (FLPs), allowing new approaches for solving and applying them in real-world contexts. Traditionally, FLPs have been aimed at optimizing cost, distance, service levels or coverage objectives. However, in recent years it has become necessary to reframe these solution methods to integrate new objectives that arise from the need to look for long term sustainability. In addition, it is paramount to incorporate unexpected disruptions impacts that can affect supply chains’ resilience. It is important to have new tools to validate the results of solution models, such as stochastic analysis and simulation. A specific case of why it is essential to incorporate elements of sustainability in Supply Chain Network Design is the current Covid-19 pandemic, which has been proven to be dynamic and unpredictable as it has already been widely reported in the shaking of global supply chains in various aspects. In this review, we seek to analyze the latest research trends in Supply Chain Design considering the FLP as the main axis and will be including Covid-19 Impacts on the Supply Chain Network Design.