Strengthening the reliability fixed-charge location model using clique constraints

The Reliability Fixed-Charge Location Problem is an extension of the Simple Plant Location Problem that considers that some facilities have a probability of failure. In this paper we reformulate the original mathematical programming model of the Reliability Fixed-Charge Location Problem as a set packing problem. We study certain aspects of its polyhedral properties, identifying all the clique facets. We also discuss how to obtain facets of the Reliability Fixed-Charge Location Problem from facets of the Simple Plant Location Problem. Subsequently, we study some conditions for optimal solutions. Finally, we propose an improved compact formulation for the problem and we check its performance by means of an extensive computational study.