Problem 4. Eagle Courier and Parcel (ECP) has decided to enter the Dallas- Fort Worth metroplex to provide "last mile" transportation service for on-line retailers and other companies seeking alternatives to the major parcel carriers. ECP management must determine where to locate their new sort facility that will serve as a hub for customers located throughout the metroplex. To simplify the analysis, they have clustered customer volumes at several delivery kiosks (see red stars below). Dallas Fort Worth Several cities are offering concessions on tax abatements, utilities, and real estate taxes. As a result, ECP wants to compare the transportation costs of the alternate sites with the optimal site location before considering the concessions. The executive team recognizes transportation will represent their largest single cost over time, and they want to understand the transportation cost implications before considering any proposals from the cities. The senior executive team is currently considering three sites located at: DC Ft Worth Dallas DFW X-coordinate 90 180 110 Y-coordinate 60 10 80 The distribution center will support customer "clusters" at the following coordinates with corresponding rates and volumes: Customer X-coordinate Y-coordinate Rate 50157 191 $ 2.01 2. 50 82 $ 2.03 3 52 50 $ 2.12 4 60 3 $ 2.13 OS 110 127 $ 2.20 6 115 83 $ 2.18 7 160 85 $ 2.25 8 175 32 $ 2.09 9 177 7 $ 2.08 10 182 147 $ 2.25 11 225 86 $ 1.95 12 242 41 $ 2.30 Volume 50,000 48,750 25,680 18,660 36,000 38,750 53,000 65,000 51,000 40,000 45,000 32,500 Your task is to compute the total cost for the three locations identified by the executive team. You then will determine the optimal location that minimizes total cost for ECP. As described in Problem #3, each location (Fort Worth, Dallas, DFW Airport, and the optimal location) will have a distance and cost column in your worksheet The analysis should appear on a worksheet titled "Problem 4". The total cost for each of three locations should be calculated using either the center-of-gravity or median approach as you believe appropriate. You should explain your selection to the executive team. Your analysis must use Solver to calculate the total cost for the optimal location After you have computed the total cost, your next task is to explain your results and make a recommendation to the executive team. Your answer should consist of a minimum of two paragraphs. The first explains the results obtained in your analysis. The second paragraph provides a recommendation. The written portion of your answer is worth approximately 10 points of this problem. You may compose these paragraphs in Word and then cut and paste into the Excel worksheet for this