Plotting of the added costs revealed that cost increases at a relatively 

 constant rate with increases in distance. An equation was calculated for 

 a .-traifiht line which minimizes the distance hetwcen the points and 

 the line. This equation expresses the relationship hetwcen unit cost and 

 distance and is: 



Y = 0.634 + 0.015 XI 

 wliere Y is the unit spatial cost in cents per pound and X is the one- 

 way road mileage distance hetween the center of the production area 

 and the location of the hroiler production unit. The added cost for each 

 additional mile in road distance is 0.015 cents a pound. The fixed cost, 

 that portion of the cost not associated with distance, is 0.634 cents a 

 pound. 



The equation has several practical applications. It can he used to 

 estimate the cost of the spatial activities for servicing broiler production 

 units regardless of the broiler production density experienced by the 

 firm. For example, assume a grower is located 60 road miles from the 

 firm's facilities and has a production of 25,000 birds per flock. The total 

 unit spatial cost to this location is 1.53 cents a pound. On the basis of 

 3.5 pound birds, the unit cost is 5.36 cents a bird, and the total cost for 

 the flock is $1,340. 



Table 7. Total Unit Spatial Costs and Road Mileages from a Common Plant 

 Origin to the Average Broiler Production Location in Each Band.'^ 



Band One-Way Road Mileage Unit Cost 



(miles) (cents per pound) 



1,000 Pound Density Level 



I 33.2 1.425 



II 67.9 1.680 



III 102.6 2.109 



IV 129.9 2.720 



5,000 Pound Density Level 



I 14.0 1.007 



II 29.5 1.035 



III 45.1 1.214 



IV 57.2 1.470 



V 69.3 1.608 

 VI 83.7 1.808 



25,000 Pound Density Level 



I 6.2 .816 



II 12.4 .771 



III 19.3 .808 



IV 24.8 .879 



V 30.2 1.024 

 VI 35.9 1.188 



* Spatial Activities: (1) Broiler Assembly, (2) Chick Distribution, (3) Feed Dis- 

 tribution. 



^ Correlation coefficient is .94. 



22 



