Fireside Tire Company, a manufacturer of radial tires for sport utility vehicles, sells its products in the automotive aftermarket and distributes them throughout the United States. Fireside has three tire production plants located in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Toledo, Ohio; and Macomb, Illinois (see map). Normally, Fireside ships tires from its plants to distribution centers, but truckload-size purchases typically are transported directly from plants to customer locations. All shipments to a region move under truck-load rates applying to a minimum weight of 40,000 pounds, or 400 cwt.

Fireside management is concerned about the most economical location for a distribution center to serve its southeastern region, consisting of North Carolina. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and southeastern Tennessee. Although an Atlanta distribution center currently serves this region, Fireside management is concerned that the Atlanta location is not the most logistically sound alternative.

To help the logistics department conduct an analysis of this region's distribution center location using the grid method, Fireside's transportation department developed the following data based on projections for 2012:

The transportation department also determined that total freight expenditures from the Atlanta distribution center during 2012 were $217,000 and that the average shipment distance was 330 miles.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Based on the available information, is Atlanta the best location for a distribution center to serve the southeastern region? If not, what would you recommend?

2. The Fireside transportation department projects a 25 percent rate increase in 2013 from all of its transportation providers. How will this affect the southeastern location?

3. Marketing anticipates that the Raleigh/Durham market will grow by 3.000 cwt in 2014, and that Fireside will serve the growth from Allentown. How will this affect Atlanta as a location?

Macomb Jackson Toledo Cleveland Chattanooga Birmingham Atlanta Montgomery Raleigh/Durham Charlotte Columbia Tallahassee Allentown Jacksonville Tampa Miami FROM Toledo Macomb Allentown TO 2012 SHIPMENTS TO ATLANTA RATE/CWT Chattanooga Atlanta Tampa Bimingham Miami Jacksonville Columbia Charlotte Raleigh/Durham CWT 15,000 5,000 11,000 $2.20 2.43 2012 SHIPMENTS FROM ATLANTA CWT 2.52 2,700 3,500 4,300 2,800 5,300 5,100 2,200 2,900 2,200 MILEAGE 640 735 780 GRD COORDINATES HORIZONTAL HORIZONTAL 1,350 1,400 1,570 1,260 1,740 1,600 1,600 1,590 1,700 1,360 980 1,840 VERTICAL 1,160 1,070 1,150 GRID COORDINATES VERTICAL 650 600 220 580 90 450 650 740 800