Description
Consider a company that has a facility located in your local area. This could be a big-box store like Walmart, an automobile manufacturer like Kia, a financial services group like Citibank, or any other company of interest.
Why do you suppose the company chose that location? Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of that location, and be sure to describe how the location affects other facets of the company, its trading partners (i.e., the supply chain), and the local/regional area.
In response to your peers, be sure to offer suggestions for additional strengths and weaknesses of the chosen location.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/facility-layout-an…
PEER 1: One of the most crucial strategic decisions made by an organization is where to locate their operations. For retail organizations, the strategy should focus on expanding revenue. Conditions to consider when making a site decision are site size, cost, accessibility such as air and highways, zoning regulations, closeness of services and supplies, environmental issues, customer quantity and demographics. Labor productivity is also a crucial factor to consider as employees with little to no training, education and poor work habits may not be a good option as the alternative ((Heizer et al., 2019).
In my town we have a Target that opened in 2014. When I first had heard about Target opening in that location I was astonished as there was a Target two exits up on the highway. The location is a remote industrial area filled with distribution centers for various organizations. Since the location has opened it has brought a bundle of other businesses to the area such as restaurants, coffee shops, banks, and a connivence store. I think the reason that Target chose that location was that up-and-coming development and potential. Before Target, the area was unknown, unless you had business with one of the distribution centers you did not go to that area. The site is in a terrific location as it is right off the highway, you can see the Target sign from the highway, both ways. There is plenty of parking even with all the added plazas in the area. For me, as a consumer this is important as some plazas that I know that have bad parking situations I will avoid at all costs. I do not see any environmental issues with this location as it is not near any residential property. Demographics would be something that I would question with this location as it is two exits away from another Target (which is not right off the highway). When they first opened it was great as it was not really known about, so it was never busy but now it is like your typical Target when it comes to busyness.
References
Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2019). Operations Management. Pearson Education Canada.
PEER 2: When a company chooses a location, a lot of decisions go into the process. They have to know that the location will provide a majority of the keys to success. Depending on the type of business it is, you will need to look at things like population, education level, avg income, location to suppliers, community feeling towards the industry, and many more (Heizer, Jay, et al., 2020). For example, Walmart has 4,756 total stores around the country that serves millions of people. To allow those stores to run efficiently they have to be able to get supplies re-stocked. So, what they do is place their distribution centers in close vicinity of major cities. Another reason they are around major cities is because that gives them direct access to airports, train depots, and major highways.
When I think about location from a customer perspective, I just normally want the store to be in close proximity to where I live. Most people dont even think about where the distribution center is or how the place gets stocked so fast. Here in Katy, Texas there is a population of 18,094 with a median household income of 77,731. Along with those numbers some other pros to being in the Katy area is the school system is amazing and it has a strong local economy. Now, a couple of cons to this area is the high sales tax and the lack of diversity in the area (Houston, 2021). Another issue in this area is that Katy, Texas has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. An interesting thing about Walmart distribution centers is they are located no farther than 130 miles from any Walmart store location. That helps with efficiency of supply delivery.
Heizer, Jay, et al. Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management. Pearson Education Limited, 2020.
Houston, C. M. (2021, 01 01). Pros and Cons of Moving to Katy Texas. Retrieved from cheapmovershouston.net: https://www.cheapmovershouston.net/blog/pros-cons-…