Operations

Management

Location Strategies
Chapter 4
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4-1
 Outline
♦ GLOBAL COMPANY PROFILE:
FEDERAL EXPRESS
♦ THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF
LOCATION
♦ FACTORS THAT AFFECT LOCATION
DECISIONS
♦ Labor Productivity
♦ Exchange Rates and Currency Risks
♦ Costs
♦ Attitudes
♦ Proximity to Markets
♦ Proximity
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♦ Proximity to Competitors (Clustering)

 Outline - Continued
♦ METHODS OF EVALUATING
LOCATION ALTERNATIVES
♦ The Factor-Rating Method
♦ Locational Break-Even Analysis
♦ Center-of-Gravity Method
♦ The Transportation Method
♦ SERVICE LOCATION STRATEGY
♦ How Hotel Chains Select Sites
♦ The Telemarketing Industry
♦ Geographic Information Systems

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4-3
 Learning Objectives
When you complete this chapter,
you should be able to :
Identify or Define:
♦ Objective of location strategy
♦ International location issues
♦ Clustering
♦ Geographic Information Systems
Describe or explain:
♦ Three methods of solving the
location problem
♦ Factor-rating method
♦ Locational breakeven analysis
♦ Center -of-gravity method
♦ Describe the factors affecting
Prepared location
by : Shatina Saad decisions OPM 533
4-4
 Federal Express

♦ Stresses “hub” concept

♦ Advantages:
♦ enables service to more locations with
fewer aircraft
♦ enables matching of aircraft flights
with package loads
♦ reduces mishandling and delay in
transit because there is total control
of packages from pickup to delivery

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4-5
 Objective of Location
Strategy

Maximize the benefit

of location to the
firm

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4-6
 Industrial Location
Decisions
♦Cost focus
♦ Revenue varies little
between locations
♦ Location is a major
cost factor
♦ Affects shipping &
production costs (e.g., labor) © 1995 Corel Corp.

♦ Costs vary greatly between

locations

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4-7
 Service Location
Decisions
♦Revenue focus
♦ Costs vary little between market
areas
♦ Location is a major
revenue factor
♦ Affects amount of
customer contact
♦ Affects volume of
business

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4-8
 In General - Location
Decisions
♦ Long-term decisions
♦ Difficult to reverse
♦ Affect fixed & variable costs
♦ Transportation cost
♦ As much as 25% of product price
♦ Other costs: Taxes, wages, rent etc.

Objective: Maximize benefit of

location to firm
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4-9
 Location Decision
Sequence
Country Region/Community

Site
© 1995
Corel © 1995 Corel Corp.
Corp.

© 1995
Corel
Corp.
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4-10
Factors That Affect Location
Decisions

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4-11
 Factors Affecting
Country
♦ Government rules,
attitudes, political
risk, incentives
♦ Culture & economy
♦ Market location
♦ Labor availability,
attitudes,
productivity, and cost
♦ Availability of © 1995 Corel Corp.

supplies,
communications,
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energy 4-12
 Region Location
Decisions
♦ Corporate desires
♦ Attractiveness of region
(culture, taxes, climate,
etc.)
♦ Labor, availability,
costs, attitudes towards
unions
♦ Costs and availability of
utilities
♦ Environmental
regulations of state and
town
♦ Government incentives © 1995 Corel Corp.

♦ Proximity to raw
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4-13 OPM 533

materials & customers

 Factors Affecting Site

♦ Site size and

cost
♦ Air, rail,
highway, and
waterway
systems
♦ Zoning
restrictions
♦ Nearness of
services/suppli
es needed
Prepared by : Shatina Saad © 1995 CorelOPM
Corp.533
4-14
♦ Environmental
 Country Decision
Factors
♦ Market location ♦ Other
♦ U.S. is world’s
largest luxury car
♦ Lower shipping
market cost ($2,500/car
♦ Growing (baby less)
boomers) ♦ New plant &
♦ Labor equipment
♦ Lower would increase
manufacturing productivity
labor costs (lower cost/car
♦ $17/hr. (U.S.) vs. $27
(Germany) $2,000-3000)
♦ Higher labor
productivity
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4-15 OPM 533

♦ 11 holidays (U.S.) vs.

 Region/Community
Decision Factors
♦ Labor
♦ Lower wages in South Carolina (SC)
♦ Government incentives
♦ $135 million in state & local tax
breaks
♦ Free-trade zone from airport to plant
♦ No duties on imported components or on
exported cars

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4-16
 CSF in Location
Analysis
Critical Success Factors CountryCountryCountryCountry
1 2 3 4
Technology
Rate of technology change 3 5 2 1
Innovations in process design 5 3 1 5
Level of education
Number of skilled workers 5 4 3 4
National education rate 4 1 1 2
Political and Legal Aspects
Stability of government 5 5 2 5
Product liability laws 4 3 3 5
Export restrictions 4 3 3 1

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4-17
 CSF in Location
Analysis - Continued
Critical Success Factors CountryCountryCountryCountry
Social and Cultural Aspects 1 2 3 4

Similarity in language 5 1 5 4
Work ethic 4 2 3 1
Economic factors
Tax rates 3 3 2 5
Inflation 3 5 5 5
Availability of raw
materials 2 4 3 5
Interest rates 3 4 2 5

Total Rating Points 50 43 35 48

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4-18
 Organizations That
Need To Be Close to
Markets
♦ Government agencies
♦ Police & fire departments
♦ Post Office

♦ Retail Sales and Service

♦ Fast food restaurants, supermarkets,
gas stations
♦ Drug stores, shopping malls
♦ Bakeries

♦ Services
♦ Doctors, lawyers, accountants,
barbers
♦ Banks, auto repair, motels
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4-19
 Location Evaluation
Methods
♦ Factor-rating
method
♦ Locational break-
even analysis
♦ Center of gravity
method
♦ Transportation
model

Prepared by : Shatina Saad OPM 533

4-20 © 1995 Corel Corp.
 Factor-Rating Method

♦ Most widely used location technique

♦ Useful for service & industrial
locations
♦ Rates locations using factors
♦ Tangible (quantitative) factors
♦ Example: Short-run & long-run costs
♦ Intangible (qualitative) factors
♦ Example: Education quality, labor
skills
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4-21
 Factors Affecting
Location Selection
♦ Labor costs (including wages,
unionization, productivity)
♦ Labor availability (including
attitudes, age, distribution, and
skills)
♦ Proximity to raw materials and
suppliers
♦ Proximity to markets
♦ Government fiscal policies
(including incentives, taxes,
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 Factors Affecting
Location Selection -
Continued
♦ Environmental regulations
♦ Utilities (including gas, electric,
water, and their costs)
♦ Site costs (including land,
expansion, parking, drainage)
♦ Transportation availability
(including rail, air, water, and
interstate roads)

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4-23
 Factors Affecting
Location Selection -
Continued
♦ Quality-of-life issues in the community
(including all levels of education, cost
of living, health care, sports, cultural
activities, transportation, housing,
entertainment, religious facilities)
♦ Foreign exchange Including rates and
stability
♦ Quality of government (including
stability, honesty, attitudes toward
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4-24
new business - whether overseas or
 Steps in Factor Rating
Method
♦ List relevant factors
♦ Assign importance weight to each
factor (such as 0 – 1)
♦ Develop scale for each factor
(such as 1 – 100)
♦ Score each location using factor
scale
♦ Multiply scores by weights for
each factor & total
♦ Select location with maximum
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4-25
total score
 Locational Break-Even
Analysis
♦ Method of cost-volume analysis
used for industrial locations
♦ Steps
♦ Determine fixed & variable costs for
each location
♦ Plot total cost for each location (Cost
on vertical axis, Annual Volume on
horizontal axis)
♦ Select location with lowest total cost
for expected production volume
♦ Must be above break-even
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4-26
 Locational Break-Even
Analysis Example
You’re an analyst for AC Delco.
You’re considering a new
manufacturing plant in Asahan,
Baling, or Chini. Fixed costs per
year are RM30k, RM60k, & RM110k
respectively. Variable costs per
case are RM75, RM45, & RM25
respectively. The price per case is
RM120. What is the best location
for an expected volume of 2,000
© 1995 Corel Corp.
cases per year?
Prepared by : Shatina Saad OPM 533
4-27
 Locational Break-Even
Crossover Chart
200000 n
a
ah
As
150000
Annual Cost

Chini
100000
a l ing
B
50000 Asahan Baling Chini
lowest lowest cost lowest
cost cost
0
0 500 10001500200025003000
Volume
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4-28
 Center of Gravity
Method
♦ Finds location of single
distribution center serving
several destinations
♦ Used primarily for services
♦ Considers
♦ Location of existing destinations
♦ Example: Markets, retailers etc.
♦ Volume to be shipped
♦ Shipping distance (or cost)
♦ Shipping cost/unit/mile is constant
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4-29
 Center of Gravity
Method Steps
♦ Place existing locations on a
coordinate grid
♦ Grid has arbitrary origin & scale
♦ Maintains relative distances
♦ Calculate X & Y coordinates for
‘center of gravity’
♦ Gives location of distribution center
♦ Minimizes transportation cost

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4-30
Center of Gravity Method
Equations
X Coordinate
dix = x
∑ d ix Wi
Cx = i coordinate of
∑ Wi location i
i
Wi = Volume of
Y Coordinate goods moved to
∑ d iy Wi or from location i
Cy = i
∑ Wi diy = y
i
coordinate of
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Coordinate Locations of
Four Quain’s
Department Stores and
the Center of Gravity

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4-32
 Transportation Model
♦ Finds amount to be shipped from
several sources to several
destinations
♦ Used primarily for industrial
locations
♦ Type of linear programming model
♦ Objective: Minimize total production
& shipping costs
♦ Constraints
♦ Production capacity at source (factory)
♦ Demand requirement at destination

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4-33
 Components of Volume
and Revenue for a
Service Firm
1. Purchasing power of customer drawing
area
2. Service and image compatibility with
demographics of the customer drawing
area
3. Competition in the area
4. Quality of the competition
5. Uniqueness of the firm’s and
competitor’s locations
6. Physical qualities of facilities and
neighboring businesses
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4-34 OPM 533
 Location Strategies –
Service vs. Industrial
Service/Retail/Professional Goods-Producing Location
Revenue Focus Cost Focus
 Tangible costs
❏ Volume/revenue
❏ Drawing area, purchasing ❏ Transportation cost of raw
power materials
❏ Competition;
❏ Shipment cost of finished
advertising/pricing goods
❏ Physical quality ❏ Energy and utility cost;
❏ Parking/access; security/ labor; raw material; taxes,
lighting; appearance/image etc.
❏ Cost determinants ❏ Intangible and future costs
❏ Rent ❏ Attitude toward union
❏ Management caliber ❏ Quality of life
❏ Operations policies (hours, ❏ Education expenditures by
wage rates)
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❏ Quality of state and local

 Location Strategies –
Service vs. Industrial
Service/Retail/Professional Goods Producing
Techniques Location
❏ Regression models to Techniques
determine importance of ❏ Linear Programming
various factors (Transportation
❏ Factor-rating method method)
❏ Traffic counts ❏ Factor-rating method
❏ Demographic analysis of ❏ Locational breakeven
drawing area analysis
❏ Purchasing power ❏ Crossover charts
analysis of drawing area
❏ Center of gravity
method
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4-36 OPM 533

❏
 Location Strategies –
Service vs. Industrial
Service/Retail/Professional Goods-Producing
Assumptions Location
❏ Location is a major Assumptions
determinate of revenue ❏ Location is a major
❏ High customer-contact determinate of cost
issues are critical ❏ Most major costs can
❏ Costs are relatively be identified
constant for a given explicitly for each site
area; therefore, the ❏ Low customer contact
revenue function is allows focus on
critical identifiable costs
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OPM 533
4-37
be evaluated
Major Methods of Solving
Location Problems
♦ Weighted methods which:
♦ Assign weights and points to various
factors
♦ Determine tangible costs
♦ Investigate intangible costs
♦ Center of Gravity Method
♦ Find best distribution center location
♦ Location breakeven methods
♦ Special case of breakeven analysis
♦ Transportation method
♦ A specialized linear programming
method
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4-38 OPM 533
 Telemarketing and
Internet Industries

♦ Require neither face-to-face

contact with customers (or
employees) nor movement of
material
♦ Presents a whole new
perspective on the location
problem

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4-39
Geographic Information
Systems

♦ New tool to help in location

analysis
♦ Enables combination of many
parameters

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4-40
 Final Thought
The ideal location
for many
companies in the
future will be a
floating factory
ship that will go
from port to port,
from country to
© 1995 Corel Corp.
country – wherever
cost
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4-41 OPM 533