Free Webinar: An Engineered Approach to Determining Where Facilities Should Be Located

The campus community and members of the public are invited to a free webinar at noon this Thursday, April 25, about using an engineered approach to site selection in business development.

This webinar is part of the Engineering and Operations Management Lunch and Learn Webinar Series.

The webinar, titled "An Engineered Approach to Site Selection: Determining Where Facilities Should be Located," will be presented by Kerry Melton, adjunct instructor in the Master of Science in Operations Management Program.   

The importance of facility location has dramatically increased over the last several years as the U.S. economy has expanded and different metropolitan areas and markets have experienced population growth, infrastructure changes, labor availability improvements and better technologies.

Global competition has also created the need to further drive down costs and strategize the location of facilities such as distribution centers, freight consolidation centers, retail stores, manufacturing plants, supplier locations for raw materials, farms to grow crops and port facilities.

This presentation will consider and evaluate several traditional and more modern methods for determining the location of physical facilities that aim to minimize costs, enhance service and convenience, provide a competitive advantage and potentially attract customer demand.

Attendees will explore several different quantitative and qualitative techniques to help determine facility location while also considering different computer software applications.

Melton earned his doctorate in industrial engineering and management from Oklahoma State University in 2012, with a concentration in supply chain management and logistics. He has taught Operations Management, Transportation Strategies, Advanced Forecasting and Inventory Management, Engineering and Business Statistics, and Goods and Services at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Arkansas. He joined the University of Arkansas faculty as an adjunct professor in 2013 and has been teaching online since 2015.

Melton worked at J.B. Hunt for 12 years. He has worked for Walmart for five years, and currently works for the company in the Logistics Home Office in Bentonville.

The webinar will begin at noon. Registration is required. Click here to sign up.

To learn more about the series, visit the webinar series webpage.