@ Supply Chain Management

LogisticsToday and Expansion Management offers a matrix that summarizes the state of logistics practices, environment and competencies by cities in the Midwestern part of the US – they call it the Logistics Quotient : Midwest.
The methodology,

The Midwest Regional Logistics Quotient matrix provides an overall ranking of each city within the Midwest region, assigning a rank of 5 stars to the top tier, 4 stars to the next group and so on down to a 1-star rank

LogisticsToday and Expansion Management also list their 10 logistics categories in which the midwestern metro areas are ranked. They are:

* Transportation and distribution industry–based on business and employment base providing transportation, distribution, warehousing and related services.
* Work force–geared to existing and available logistics-related workers in the area.
* Road infrastructure–measures factors like available lane miles per capita, interstate highway access, miles of paved
roads etc.
* Road density, congestion and safety–ranks the city on traffic volumes and delays as well as accident statistics and other factors affecting the smooth flow of traffic.
* Road condition–draws on state performance and includes condition of highways and bridges among other measures.
* Interstate highway–includes access to interstate highways, spending on highway construction and maintenance.
* Taxes and fees–provides a measure of logistics-related costs, including highway and fuel taxes and related business activity taxes.
* Railroad–offers a state-based rank of access to Class 1 and other rail services and miles of track.
* Waterborne commerce–includes ocean port capacity as well as inland waterways.
* Air cargo–ranks the city on its access to cargo services, including wide-body passenger service by combination carriers, international and expedited services.

This kind of information is invaluable to me when I engage in Supply Chain Network modeling and consulting on the basis of this. This sort of matrix allows for easy comparison between geographical locations and the costs thereof of operating within them.

Tags: Logistics Quotient, LogisticsToday, Expansion Management, Ranking of Midwestern USA metro areas for logistics