In college, Fred Smith wrote a paper describing how a company could revolutionize the transportation of goods. Although he made a $$C$$ on that paper, he kept refining his ideas about how he could ship packages efficiently using a hub$-$and$-$spoke system, picking up packages and flying them to a central hub for sorting, and then flying them to their destinations along spokes. Smith turned his ideas into the company that became FedEx, and his proposals for the hub$-$and$-$spoke system of efficient deliveries became its $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.$

technology plan

facilities plan

design plan

product design

product line