If geography alone determined where you built your next food plant, chances are you'd find yourself breaking ground in Topeka, Kan. So, for that matter, would every other food company. Situated at the virtual center of the continental U.S., Topeka is also at the crossroads of six major highways and interstates and enjoys easy access to air and rail. Bottom line: You'd be closer to your markets, your product would enjoy a longer shelf life, and you'd likely minimize your shipping and transportation costs.

If only it were that easy.

"Proximity to market does count," says Gene Winter, senior vice president of The Greater Richmond (Va.) Partnership, Inc., an economic development agency that has managed to attract Kraft, Tyson and other heavy hitters to the Richmond area. "I think one of the reasons we've done so well is that we're ideally situated between one of the nation's largest consumer markets to the North and one of its largest agricultural markets to the South."

On the other hand, Winter acknowledges that geography is only one variable of a much larger equation. "Does a given region or metro area have the desired workforce?" he says. "Are programs in place to ensure that workforce training is adequate? What environmental regulations are in place? What are the area's energy costs? What's the quality of the area's distribution network?"

All good questions, says Don Schjeldahl, director of E/A firm Austin Company's Facilities Location Grou, Cincinnati, Ohio.  And the answers, he notes, are changing all the time. "Customer demand changes. Transportation and infrastructure change. Regulations change. Add to that the fact that most food companies usually want their plant projects built as quickly as possible, either to satisfy new market demand or contend with capacity problems, and it becomes clear that site selection is more complicated than it looks."

So how do you start?

Schjeldahl and others maintain there are essentially five steps to selecting a site location: defining the project and establishing procedures; screening candidate cities; developing a shortlist of candidate cities; conducting a detailed field investigation; and conducting tours of finalist communities that include negotiations with community officials. 

Defining the project

According to Schjedahl, corporate managers first need to decide what the project is all about. Is the plant being constructed to launch a new product? To meet increased demand for an existing one? To replace an outmoded facility? What types of infrastructure are required to support plant operations? And finally, what is the anticipated start-up date?

"Typical manufacturing projects can take up to two years," Schjedahl says, "but food-related projects tend to have a much shorter project life-cycle  -- 12 to 18 months -- since the emphasis usually is on getting product shelves as quickly as possible." Accordingly, many food companies  -- as many as 50 percent by Schjedahl's estimates -- look for existing facilities, preferably food facilities, in order to save time. "If you find the right building, it can save you a lot of trouble with regard to sanitation standards, environmental regulations and so forth," he says.

Once project parameters are set, Schjeldahl recommends that management form a site selection committee comprised of employees "who really know the process, including plant engineers, production managers and environmental officers. Because food plants tend to be relatively labor intensive, Human Resources should also be included. And, of course, you'll need perspective from someone in finance."

Screening candidate cities