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Many location problems may be separated into a series of interrelated macro, meso and micro decision-making states. The macro scale decision determines the type, capacity and number of facilities, the meso scale decision determines the location and allocation of facilities and the micro scale decision determines such considerations as routing and scheduling of service vehicles. This paper concerns the first two levels of decision-making.

The present paper demonstrates the use of two models: (i) an analytical model that uses continuum approximations and methods of calculus to determine the number of facilities, the capacity and the approximate location of each that minimizes the sum of the transportation and facility costs for a slowly varying demand rate, and (ii) a traditional location-allocation model that determines more exactly the resulting locations and allocations. These two approaches have specific …