Development of a decision support system for plant location selection : case study the plastic industry and concrete industry

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a decision support system for plant location selection in case of plastic industry and concrete industry to be used as a guideline for investors in making plant location decision before setting up a new plant under a number of factors that affect business operations. The plant location has effect on the plant layout, manufacturing operations, cost and capital investment of industrial in that good plant location may help the company gain competitive advantage, high profits in production and operation process of manufacturing. Information and factors on plant location selection in plant location selection were analyzed. For plastic industry and concrete industry, the system was developed using Microsoft Visual Basic version 6.0 program, which was used to write the program as a front-end tool and Microsoft Access to collect the database. The method used in plant location selection includes the Location Factor Rating Evaluation. The system provides several factors for users to consider and choose. They are market location, labour supply, raw material location, transportation facilities, utilities facilities, construction cost, location cost and BOI investment promotion location. From the result of this research, it was found that in plastic industry, business owners or someone in related positions consider BOI investment promotion location first, and availability and capacity of utilities second. In concrete industry transportation facilities was considered first, nearness or accessibility of raw materials second, and nearness or accessibility to the market third. This system will help investors understand the process of plant location selection, factors that are related in making decision for plant location selection and help investors save time and cost to analyze data and collect data from volume of information in making plant location selection decision. The system will provide related information and select the suitable location alternative that user requirements depend on each factor that more attractive for users selection and requirement as a final result.