6. Assume Grainger, Inc

Assume Grainger, Inc., is considering the possibility of getting their supplies from China, India, and/or Japan and keeping the usage of the two ports in Seattle and Los Angeles as two independent distribution centers to supply the demand of the nine warehouses listed in part (1). The Cargo Freight Rates between the three suppliers in China, India, and Japan and the two USA ports are show below.

Country of Supply	China	India	Japan
Sea Freight Rates/1000 CBM/mile	$1.5	$1.0	$2.0

Use Google maps, Google Earth, or any other location on the web to estimate the distances between:

the three countries of supply and the two ports, and

the two distribution centers (in Seattle and LA) and the nine warehouses.

Assuming that each supplier is capable of providing a maximum of 100,000 CBM during the required time period and each port/distribution center can handle and process all the received CBMs, use the solver module on Excel to provide a complete plan that satisfies the required demands at the nine warehouses in order to minimize the total shipping costs (by sea and road). Show all your work and references for a full credit.

7.Comment on the obtained results in part (6) and feel free to suggest any modifications or introduce new assumptions to provide your overall recommendations to Grainger, Inc.