Fireside Tire Company

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 locates 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. Al shipments to a region move under truckload 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 the southeastern region, consisting of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and Southeastern Tennessee. Although an Atlanta distribution canter currently serves this region. Fireside management is concerned that the Atlanta location is not the most logistically sound alternative.To help the logistic 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 fro Grid Technique Analysis for Fireside Tire Co. PART A Grid Coordinates Calculations
Sources/Markets Rate/CWT-mile (a) CWT (b) Horizontal Vertical A*B*Horizontal A*B*Vertical
Toledo (s1) 2.2 15000 1360 1160 44,880,000 38,280,000
Macomb (s2) 2.43 5000 980 1070 11,907,000 13,000,500
Allentown (s3) 2.52 11000 1840 1150 51,004,800 31,878,000 Totals: 31000 107,791,800 83,158,500 Chattanooga (m1) 7 2700 1350 650 25,515,000 12,285,000
Atlanta (m2) 7 3500 1400 600 34,300,000 14,700,000
Tampa (m3) 7 4300 1570 220 47,257,000 6,622,000
Birmingham (m4) 7 2800 1260 580 24,696,000 11,368,000
Miami (m5) 7 5300 1740 90 64,554,000 3,339,000
Jacksonville (m6) 7 5100 1600 450 57,120,000 16,065,000
Columbia (m7) 7 2200 1600 650 24,640,000