1. A plant location decision is either a choice to expand existing productive facilities, add new locations, or substitute a new facility for an existing one. Subcontracting may also be used as a substitute for substantial plant expansion.

2 . A plant location decision can be made either before the capacity decision is made, concurrently with the capacity decision, or after it.

3. The criteria for choosing sites are not based solely on economics or cost. Many environmental and quality-of-life factors are relevant to the decision.

4. Service operations and public utility systems have different guidelines for choosing locations than do more conventional production operations. Service operations must concentrate upon accessibility to markets. A production facility decision is usually based on least cost, providing there are not some overriding considerations such as accessibility to raw materials or skilled labor, quality of life, etc.

5. There is a location problem at more than one level of decision making. Not only must a decision be made as to where to put the production facility, but also where to put the warehouses and distribution centers, and how to build support networks that take care of the relevant logistical problems.

6. In recent years multinational companies have been putting production facilities in foreign countries to take advantage of lower labor costs. In many cases, these plants produce semi finished goods and components to be integrated into larger products, via the production process. International operations management introduces new problems such as taxes, import duties, additional transportation costs, different sets of laws, foreign social and political structures, and trade practices and restrictions.

7. Localities frequently offer special incentives for industrial development by buying land for industrial districts, constructing special buildings, and offering favorable leases, tax incentives or loans.

8. Location preferences may reflect organizational policy on decentralization versus centralization.

9. Regional factors include location near the sources of raw materials, both for service and to minimize transportation costs.

10. Community location factors are primarily quality of life and quality of the work force available, as well as taxes, availability of public utilities, support for plant development, and whether or not there are costly local regulations. Special incentives offered by communities to attract industry are also relevant.

11. Site location factors include costs, transportation access, zoning restrictions and land.

12. The factor rating scale method evaluates alternative locations by computing weighted averages of the factor rating scores of the various alternatives. The recommended location is the one with the highest weighted average.

13. The center of gravity method is useful in establishing an approximate (geographic) location for a distribution center. The method minimizes total shipping cost between the distribution center and multiple shipping points (destinations). if shipping quantities for all destinations are equal, the distribution center will be located at the arithmetic averages of the x and y coordinates of the destinations; if shipping quantities are unequal, the location of the distribution center is found by using a weighted average approach, where the weights are the quantities to be shipped.