Supply Chain Management - Supply Chain Centroids

Supply Chain Centroids

In the study of supply chain management, the concept of centroids has become an important economic consideration. A centroid is a place that has a high proportion of a country’s population and a high proportion of its manufacturing, generally within 500 mi (805 km). In the U.S., two major supply chain centroids have been defined, one near Dayton, Ohio and a second near Riverside, California.

The centroid near Dayton is particularly important because it is closest to the population center of the US and Canada. Dayton is within 500 miles of 60% of the population and manufacturing capacity of the U.S., as well as 60 percent of Canada’s population. The region includes the Interstate 70/75 interchange, which is one of the busiest in the nation with 154,000 vehicles passing through in a day. Of those, anywhere between 30 percent and 35 percent are trucks hauling goods. In addition, the I-75 corridor is home to the busiest north-south rail route east of the Mississippi.