Casey has been put in charge of a project team to determine the best place to locate a new manufacturing center. Casey's company, Alpharetta Tools, has experienced tremendous growth in the past 5 years, and as part of their growth strategy, they have determined they need to expand beyond their current West Coast facility by adding another plant in the eastern part of the United States. Senior management has asked Casey to investigate alternative sites for a new plant. The company wants to keep transportation costs low by finding a site with good railroad, highway, and water access. Additionally, labor costs are an important issue for Alpharetta Tools, as they have just come off a lengthy negotiation with the union in their current plant and they would like to explore sites within states that support right-to-work laws. The company's manufacturing processes are somewhat complex, so they have found that an educated, stable workforce ensures quality products. Other issues Casey has considered are space for expansion and a supportive political environment to gain tax advantages for developing the plant location. Casey has determined that the critical location factors have the following weights in terms of their importance: Transportation costs: 0.3 Labor costs: 0.3 Labor skill and education: 0.2 Labor laws: 0.1 Political climate: 0.05 Space for expansion: 0.05 After spending several months traveling across multiple states and cities, Casey and her team have narrowed their choices for the next manufacturing center to the following sites: 1. Baltimore, Maryland. Pros: good access to rail, water, and road networks; educated workforce; mild weather; good access to airports. Cons: expensive labor, no right-to-work laws, very little space for expansion, and neutral to negative political climate. 2. Jacksonville, Florida. Pros: good access to rail, water, and road networks; right-to-work state; supportive political climate. Cons: very little space for expansion, moderately educated workforce, expensive labor. 3. Cleveland, Ohio. Pros: good access to rail, water, and road networks; educated workforce; inexpensive labor; supportive political climate. Cons: no right-to-work laws, very little space for expansion. 4. Portland, Maine. Pros: good access to water network, space available for expansion. Cons: Poor road and rail network access, uneducated workforce, no right-to-work laws, and unfavorable political climate. Given this set of criteria and the team's evaluation, Casey is trying to prepare a presentation to senior management on their recommendations. Questions 1. Given the set of positive and negative features of the four finalists for the manufacturing center, develop a set of factor scores for each location. Use the factor weights and the scores for each location to create a factor weighting model and advise Casey on the location she should choose. 2. Suppose that you currently have eastern distribution centers in Orlando, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama; Toledo, Ohio; and Springfield, Massachusetts. It has been suggested that a center-of-gravity method might be the best way to determine plant location. The expected annual number of truck (40-foot trailer trucks) shipments from the new manufacturing location to the four distribution centers are given below. Using a map and a coordinate grid, identify the best location for the manufacturing center that minimizes the distance between the proposed manufacturing plant and the four distribution centers. Show your work. Distribution Center Annual Truck Shipments Orlando, Florida 40 Birmingham, Alabama 22 Toledo, Ohio 18 Springfield, Massachusetts 37 3. What additional criteria might be useful when making this multimillion-dollar decision? In other words, what additional determinants should Casey and her team consider besides the set of criteria shown above? Make an argument for including any other criteria in the plant location decision.