Facilities relative allocation technique (FRAT).

This paper discusses the problem at assigning facilities to locations. Several optimal and sub-optimal-yielding algorithms are discussed mentioning their desirable and undesirable features. A new heuristic algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm, combining features from other well known models, and programmed in Fortran IV is tested against existing methods. The results show that the algorithm is efficient, easy to run and is very competitive with other well-known methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]