Evaluación espacial de zonas potenciales de centros de distribución de cafés especiales, caso del Departamento de Nariño - Colombia.

The specialty coffees of the Department of Nariño have been recognized worldwide for their excellent quality, but they have been affected by the inadequate handling of the product in its supply chain, specifically in the areas where it is stored, directly affecting its differential attributes, therefore which presents an approach to solve the problem of selection and location of possible potential areas, for the establishment of a distribution center, essential for its entire chain. In the present study, a decision-making approach with multiple criteria (MCDA) was applied, specifically the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted linear combination (WLC), with the incorporation of geographical criteria and their implementation in GIS (Geographical Information Systems), where 38 possible alternatives (Producing Municipalities) were evaluated for the establishment of a distribution center, using criteria previously identified with the help of experts in the areas of location, logistics, connectivity and specialty coffees, where those selected were: production Municipal, road connectivity and average temperatures. As results, maps of normalized and weighted criteria were generated according to the qualification or level of importance given by the experts through the model (AHP) and later using the weighted linear combination method (WLC) and GIS, the possible ideal areas were identified for the establishment of the distribution center. In conclusion, we can affirm that as the number of criteria increases, it implies greater complexity for decision-making, being of great help the implementation of technological tools such as GIS for the analysis and management of information in the resolution of this type of problems, which in the specific case of this project brought us closer to having a departmental overview of the possible ideal areas to establish a distribution center for specialty coffees. In detail, the methods and criteria used, data sets used, results obtained and discussion, finally the most significant conclusions, are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]