Argument100 by lesheng

qinleshengUID: 2309050

TOPIC: ARGUMENT100 - The following appeared in a memo from the chief operating officer of the Presto Manufacturing Company.
"Since orders for our major product increased by over 200 percent last quarter, we should promptly expand production by building a new manufacturing plant in Summit City. Summit City is the ideal location for the new plant because it has low property taxes, extensive blocks of land available for immediate purchase, and a large number of residents who are not currently employed."
WORDS: 434          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2009/2/7 11:01:06
With the quick development of its business,the Presto Manufacturing Company is now preparing for launch a new manufacturing plant.Accoring to the chief operating officer ,the Summit City would be an ideal place.This conclusion,in my view, suffers from several critical fallacies.
As the orders of the major product have increased by over 200 percent last quarter, there is no signs that our existed plant are incapable of produce the products purchased in these orders.Even if the company could not satisfy the buyer's demand in major product, the arguer fails to tell us whether the minor product in the company is in high demand or not and if it is possible to restructure the minor product line to major product line, which is probably much less expensive than establish a new manufacturing plant. Moreover,the mere fact that orders for major product have increased by over 200 percent last quarter does not necessarily mean this trend is going to last in the future.
Granted that picking up a site for the new manufacturing plant is necessary for the expanding business in Presto Manufacturing Company, the choice of Summit City is open to doubt.The low property taxes and extensive blocks of land available might serve as good reasons to choose Summit City, However,the arguer fails to include other important factors before the purchase decision is made such as the purchase tax, the price of the land,the conditions of land(It is possible these blocks of land might not be suitable for industrial use),other kinds of tax in the long term.In addition, the details of the people in Summit City is not included in this memo.It is entirely possible the citizens in Summit City are against a new manufacturing plant out of concerns on enviroment;It is also possible that though a large number of residents are unemployed, the citizens there are not qualified for our hiring criterias.
Besides that, the arguer trivialize the drawbacks of the new plant by omiting the possible disadvantages brought by the new plant.We have good reason to believe the Presto Manufacturing Company would invest a lot of money in the new plant and whether the company have enough cash on hand is open to doubt.And how are the shareholders' attitude on this issue?Building a new plant could also trigger some new problems in our supply chain.
In conclusion,any decision aimed at improved the company's profit should be made based on the thorough investigation to gather sufficient data in order to find whether it is necessary to build a new manufacturing plant and if so ,which  city is the best place for the new plant?