A company is evaluating Kansas City and Atlanta as alternative locations for a new plant to manufacture PC’s for small businesses. The following information has been collected. They want to use this information to compare the two locations. Different SME’s (subject matter experts) scored each of the non-economic factors. So, unfortunately, the scores for the non-economic factors are scaled differently. The scales are indicated on the table. On each scale, the highest score is always the best value. For example, for the scale 0-4, the best value is 4. For each of the Non-economic factors, it is possible to score the maximum.

Critical Success Factor	Factor Weight	Scale	Kansas City	Atlanta
Cost per computer	0.50		$3,900	$4,300
Non-economic factors
Cost of living	0.10	0-2	1.2	1.4
Labor availability	0.10	0-3	2.1	2.1
Union activities	0.15	0-4	1.6	2.4
Proximity to similar industries	0.10	0-2	1.4	1.0
Local transportation systems	0.05	0-2	1.4	1.8

a) Using the factor scoring (rating) method as we learned in class, which site should be selected?

b) Suppose that the company wants to consider Omaha as a third site. Although the cost per computer for Omaha has not been determined yet, the company does know it will be at least $3,900. The scores for the qualitative factors have been determined and are the following:

Critical Success Factor	Omaha
Cost per computer	???
Cost of living	1.4
Non-economic factors
Labor availability	1.5
Union activities	2.2
Proximity to similar industries	1.0
Local transportation systems	1.2

Given the information provided in the problem and the additional information provided in this part of the problem, what is the Cost per computer for Omaha that makes it factor rating value the same Kansas City’s value?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

The following problem is solved by following method The factor rating method states that the factor rating which has the highest total score is the be... View the full answer