Logisitics/Supply Chain Mgmt. – Criteria to consider

/in /by

Deliverable
length: 500–600
words + references (minimum 2)

Primary
Task Response: Within
the Discussion Board area, write 400–600 words that respond to the following
questions with your thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation
for future discussions with your classmates. Be substantive and clear, and use
examples to reinforce your ideas.

In one of
your initial meetings with the chief executive officer (CEO), she asked you to
identify a number of the typical criteria used when making new location
decisions. Complete the following:

  1. Describe and list at least 8
    specific criteria to use.
  2. Explain the logic of why each
    criterion should be important.
  3. On a relative scale of importance,
    assign a high, medium, or low weight to each of the 8 criteria.

Do not
put all of this information into 1 paragraph; instead use 8 paragraphs, answering
all 3 questions for each of the 8 criteria in a separate paragraph. A chart
would also be acceptable.

Instructor Notes and
guidelines: (Please read it)

Please
note when doing this assignment that you respond to all three task list
questions for EACH of the 8 criteria you are listing and discussing here.

For example,

Criteria
# 1 = xxxxxxx

Logic for
selection = xxxxxxx

Level of
Importance = high, medium or low and why

Then move on to Criteria #2
and do the same as illustrated above.

Here
are a few examples of criteria that should be considered with location
decisions:

  1. How many distribution centers should the firm use and
    where should they be located?

For example, is your firm local, national or
international?  Generally speaking you
always want to locate your distribution centers “near” your customer base.

Why is this important?

  1. What customers or market areas should
    be serviced from each distribution center?

For example, IF you have several
distribution centers across the USA, which center serves which customers?

Would you allow any center to serve any
customer or divide the centers geographically?

  1. Which
    product lines should be produced or shipped at each plant or distribution
    center?

In other words, should each
distribution center carry only a few of our company’s products and other
centers carry the rest?

OR

Should each distribution center carry
the entire inventory of the company’s product lines?

  1. What
    logistics channels should be used to source material and serve
    international markets?

This refers to selling your products
overseas.  Would you have a dedicated
center that deals specifically with overseas markets? 

Do you have your product made overseas,
shipped to your distribution center in the USA, and then ship it back out to
overseas customers or does your overseas mfr. do it for you?

  1. What
    combination of public and private distribution facilities should be used?

In other words, do you own your
distribution centers OR outsource your center to others whom you pay to lease
their facilities? 

While it might seem odd to outsource
your distribution centers to others, you as a company would save the costs of
having your own employees, paying benefits, etc.

  1. Proximity
    to your suppliers and customers

How close is your proposed facility to
the suppliers that you rely upon?

OR

How close is your facility to your
customers?

  1. Access
    to Infrastructure

Is the site of your proposed location
near highways, waterways, airports, etc.?

Are the roads leading to and from your
facility in good shape?

Clearly
these are just a few of the many criteria that needs to be considered when
discussing location decisions. 

Many more are available to you via
Internet searches.


For
each, be sure to list

  1. The criteria


The logic of its importance
Its’ relative importance (high,
medium, low) and WHY