Facility location with hierarchical facility costs

Abstract

We consider the facility location problem with hierarchical facility costs, and give a (4.236 + e)-approximation algorithm using local search. The hierarchical facility location problem models multilevel service installation costs. Shmoys, Swamy and Levi [13] gave an approximation algorithm for a two-level version of the problem. Here we consider a multilevel problem, and give a constant factor approximation algorithm, independent of the number of levels, for the case of identical costs on all facilities.