If you need to pick the "best" locations for a network of one to ten warehouses, where would you put them? According to Chicago Consulting (www.chicago-consulting.com ), it depends on the number of warehouses included.

For instance, the location that provides the lowest possible time to the greatest number of customers is Bloomington, Ind. at 2.99 days. But if there are two warehouses in the network, Ashland, Ky., and Palmdale, Calif. are your best bet with a 2.22 day lead time. A three-warehouse network would be best based in Allentown, Penn., Palmdale, Calif., and McKenzie, Tenn. with 1.95 day lead time. By the time 10 warehouses are in the network, lead time is cut to 1.43 days, says the survey.