Inventory, transportation, service quality and the location of distribution centers

A crucial question in the design of ecient logistics systems is the identi®cation of locations for distribution centers (DCs). However, the optimization of these location decisions requires careful attention to the inherent trade-o€s among facility costs, inventory costs, transportation costs, and customer responsiveness. This paper presents a modeling approach that provides such an integrated view, and illustrates how it works in the context of a speci®c example involving the distribution of ®nished vehicles by an automotive manufacturer. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.