Facility Location in Logistics and Transportation: An enduring relationship

This article aims at contributing to the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review (TRE). It provides an overview of the role of Facility Location in Logistics and Transportation highlighting the contribution of TRE to such an enduring relationship. Several conventional problems are revisited showing that the three above fields have been intertwined for a long time. Nevertheless, the role of Facility Location has become even stronger in the past decades due to challenges posed by new technological developments together with a fast economy globalization and a strong increase in environmental concerns. This has called for the study of more complex problems and the development of comprehensive mathematical models leading to major advances in areas such as reverse and green logistics, humanitarian supply chains, and multimodal transportation, to mention a few. These and other related topics are discussed. Hedging against uncertainty has gained much practical relevance and thus it will be much in focus throughout the paper. Several current trends and future challenges are thoroughly discussed. These include but are not limited to the steps already made and those still missing for paving the way from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0, as well as the challenges posed by data-driven decision making in the Era of big data. • An overview of the role of Facility Location in Logistics and Transportation is provided. • The contribution of TRE to this multi-disciplinary area is emphasized. • Several conventional problems are revisited and more complex ones are discussed. • Different application areas are covered. • Current trends and future challenges are discussed.