Center of Gravity Method

The method of "center of gravity" is used for placement of selected new facilities.

It takes into account the location of existing facilities, the distance between the volumes of goods transported. The method is often used for placing intermediate storage facilities for semi-finished produce = промежуточных складов хранения полуфабрикатов or central distribution warehouses. In simplified form, this method assumes that all transport costs in forward and reverse direction are the same, and does not account for losses at case of partial load transport.

According to the method of "center of gravity" location of existing facilities are marked on the grid. The choice of the coordinate system is quite arbitrary=произвольный, случайный. The aim is to establish the relative distances between locations of objects. When making international decisions latitude and longitude coordinates are used.

Центр тяжести находят с помощью вычисления координат X и Y, что приводит к минимизации транспортных затрат. При этом используют такие формулы:

Сх — X coordinate of the center of gravity;

Су — Y coordinate of the center of gravity;;

dix — X coordinate of place i;

diy- — Y coordinate of place i;

Vi; — volume of goods transported to or from place i.