Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology 8th Edition by James Fitzsimmons,Mona Fitzsimmons,Sanjeev Bordoloi

Exercise 18

A temporary-help agency wants to open an office in a suburban section of a large city. It has identified five large corporate offices as potential customers. The locations of these offices in miles on an xy coordinate grid for the area are c 1 = (4, 4), c 2 = (4, 11), c 3 = (7, 2), c 4 = (11, 11), and c 5 _ (14, 7). The expected demand for temporary help from these customers is weighted as w 1 = 3, w 2 = 2, w 3 = 2, w 4 = 4, and w 5 = 1. The agency reimburses employees for travel expenses incurred by their assignments; therefore, recommend a location (i.e., xy coordinates) for the agency that will minimize the total weighted metropolitan distance for job-related travel.