The management of a large retailer wants to leverage the company’s enormous purchasing power to buy products in bulk quantities at relatively low prices. The plan calls for individual stores to order specific quantities from a single warehouse and distribution center, and as the company’s operations manager, it’s your job to identify potential locations for the new facility. 

First, you know that you’ll need quite a lot of land; the warehouse itself will occupy more than four acres. In addition, because incoming shipments will arrive by both rail and truck, you’ll need to be close to railroads and major highways. Land price is important, of course, and the cost of living should be relatively low. Finally, you want relatively mild weather conditions so that shipping disruptions are minimal. 

Experience has shown that small to midsize communities work best. Moreover, because the company already maintains warehouses in the West and East, the new one will probably be located in the central or south-central area of the country. Your boss wants you to identify three or four possible sites.  

Exercise Task 

With all of this information in mind, do the following: 

1. Use online resources to identify as many as ten possible locations. 

2. Using additional information gathered from online resources, narrow your set of ten locations to three or four. 

3. Continuing to use online resources, find out as much as you can about each of the three or four finalists on your list and be ready to discuss the pros and cons of each as they relate to your selection criteria.