The Nebraska Model
The
Nebraska Model was developed for the Nebraska
Department of Economic Development(NDED). I was part of a team
tasked with demonstrating Nebraska as great place to start or locate
a distribution-centered business.
Nebraska
is located in the geographical center in United States. Logistics and
supply chain costs profit directly impact the profit margin for many
companies. Therefore, the objective of this project is to help the
NDED to develop business opportunities for the State of Nebraska as a
major Distribution Center. The target market were companies located
in United States or multi-national companies with market aims in
United States. We used different scenarios to prove that the State of
Nebraska is a good location for Warehouse and Distribution Centers.
The basic data for each scenario are transportation costs, fix costs
(facility, warehouse, electricity, maintenance), and variable costs
(labor). We tested different scenarios by using specific case to
compare the cost of Nebraska against other states in America.
Methodologically,
we factored in variables such as rents, maintenance, electricity,
wages, and other relevant factors. We compared Omaha's standing to
other major distribution centers, such as Atlanta, the Memphis
tri-state area, as well as major ports to include special advantages
cities may have due to oceanic trade. We used the "SAILS"
logistic optimization software package as a mathematical toolkit.
My
personal contributions included helping fellow students and
co-workers to collect data for each scenario. Specifically, I was
responsible for collecting data of from U.S. shipping ports to
calculate the queue time and related cost.
The Nebraska Model
project is still ongoing.
A
presentation on the material is available in a 342
KB Microsoft Office Powerpoint Document
or as a 241
KB Adobe PDF.