A Solution Approach for Agricultural Service Center Location Problem Using TOPSIS, DEA and SAW Techniques - Technology Management for Sustainable Production and Logistics - page 28

Fig. 1 Layout of the studied service network
this location problem should satisfy the main objectives of this research including:
maximize service quality, service speed, and service centers profit and minimize
service cost simultaneously.
2 The Method
In this chapter the concept of MADM method is applied to get best candidate loca-
tions for agricultural service centers in rural regions. The general procedure to
develop the integrated MADM approach has been shown in Fig. 2 .
At first the main objective of establishing ASC defined using Delphi method
(Zangeneh et al. 2014 ). Then, based on the ASC objectives and inherent character-
istics of agricultural services, the location problem of ASC defined. There are two
main methods to solve the ASC location problem, but the solution space deter-
mines the appropriate method. In this study discrete solution space considered, so
MADM method will be applied. In continuous solution space, if isn't possible to
gain the required data for whole of the solution space, a substitute way is to reduce
the solution space to a discrete one and then apply the MADM methodology.