Abstract
This case study highlights issues that are faced by location theorists in solving real-world problems by drawing upon a project involving the location of a Logistics Park in the Southeastern region of North Carolina, USA. First, the location modelling is presented using standard analytical methodology from location theory. Thereafter, a structured framework, referred to by its acronym SIRC, is introduced, which can be used for real-life location modeling problems. The implementation of SIRC is then illustrated through a description of the actual process used during the implementation of the project. Finally, the case study closes with its most important section, namely, lessons learned from the project that can guide future academic research in location theory in incorporating real life factors into location modeling.
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Notes
- 1.
Though some work on a small scale, such as for a single city or county could use individual addresses as demand nodes e.g., Qabaja and Bikdash (2014).
- 2.
- 3.
Or ZCTA (Zip Code Tabulation Area), an approximation of zip code boundaries using census data.
- 4.
The economic census covers businesses of all sizes, but excludes most government-owned industries. Also excluded are schools (primary through university, including private schools), agriculture, and religious organizations (see http://www.census.gov/econ/census/help/naics_other_classification_systems/codes_not_covered.html for a complete list).
- 5.
An analytical approach to the modelling would have selected all sites in NCSE that matched the criteria being used, consider this entire set as initial candidates for location and determine the optimal location of the logistics park by solving the for the 1-median of this resulting discrete location problem. Nonetheless, other factors (preferences of interviewees, need for economic development in economically depressed counties, need to promote sites that were already developed etc.) prevailed and contributed to only the above four sites from this set being selected as candidate sites in Step 2 of the SIRC process.
- 6.
A member of the research team succinctly stated this principle as “ Location in practice is 80 % politics and 20 % science”.
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Acknowledgment
This work draws, in part, upon the experiences of the first and the third author in the implementation of the Seven Portals Study project. That project was supported by NCDOT, which is gratefully acknowledged.
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Bhadury, J., Burkey, M., Troy, S. (2015). Location Modeling for Logistics Parks. In: Eiselt, H., Marianov, V. (eds) Applications of Location Analysis. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 232. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20282-2_3
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