Transportation Problem1
Transportation Problem1
Supply (capacity)
300
300
100
Transportation problems
Demand (requirement)
A
B
C
200
200
300
4
7
4
3
5
Plants
B
Sites
8
9
Supply
(availability)
300
300
100
Demand
(requirement)
200
200
300
From
Plants
Transportation problems
(1)
(2a)
(2b)
(2c)
(3a)
(3b)
(3c)
(4)
for i 1, 2, 3 and j A, B, C.
The linear programming problem is then:
Minimise Z subject to the constraints given by equations (2), (3)
and (4).
Transportation problems
Exercise 1A
1 A steel company has three mills, M1 , M2 and M3 , which can
produce 40, 10 and 20 kilotonnes of steel each year. Three
customers, C1 , C2 and C3 , have requirements of 12, 18 and 40
kilotonnes respectively in the same period. The cost, in units
of 1000, of transporting a kilotonne of steel from each mill to
each customer is shown in the figure below.
11
M1
C1
7
9
M2
9
C2
3
5
M3
3
3
C3
W2
W3
Supply
F1
F2
F3
Demand
Transportation problems
To
20
32
35
15
From
1
2
3
Demand
(requirement)
200
Supply
(availability)
200
300
300
300
100
700
Total demand
and supply
Transportation problems
the sites respectively. The total demand and total supply has been
placed in the bottom right-hand corner. It is suggested that you
should always do this to check that you have a balanced problem.
Later we will see how to deal with unbalanced problems where
total destination requirements are greater than or less than total
source capacities.
To
200
100
100
3
Demand
200
200
Supply
300
200
300
100
100
300
The figures in the above table were obtained in the following way:
Transportation problems
Plant
40
30
10
4
11
3
Demand
70
20
30
50
Supply
12
30
30
40
50
60
150
(i) Not all of site A's demand (70) can be met by plant 1. Site A
can receive 40 from plant 1 and plant 2 can provide the
remaining 30.
(It is a good idea to fill in the cells as you go along.)
(ii) Plant 2 still has 20 left and these can be sent to site B.
(iii) Site B still requires 30 and these can be provided by plant 3.
Plant 3 still has 30 left and these can be sent to site C to
exactly meet its requirement.
The total cost of this solution is:
(40 10) (30 4) (20 5) (30 8) (30 6)
400 120 100 240 180
1040
Transportation problems
B
40
65
70
30
250
400
350
(a) The north-west corner solution obtained using the rule given
earlier is:
A
250
250
50
350
300
350
400
B
250
250
300
100
400
300
350
Transportation problems
1
2
250
250
300
100
400
300
350
250
250
50
350
300
350
400
Exercise 1B
1 Use the north-west corner rule to obtain an initial solution for
the following transportation tableaux:
Supply
(a)
100
40
50
Demand
60
60
70
10
Transportation problems
Supply
(b)
60
40
140
Demand
120
80
40
Supply
(c)
60
100
80
Demand
60
70
110
Supply
(d)
90
40
50
Demand
60
70
50
90
Supply
10
12
160
100
150
Transportation problems
&
for the occupied (used) cells. The Ri and Kj are called shadow costs.
The north-west corner solution for Example 1 is repeated below.
To
From
1
A
200
4
7
100
100
3
Demand
200
C
3
5
5
200
Supply
8
200
100
300
9
5
300
300
100
700
11
12
Transportation problems
R1 K1
R1 K2
R2 K2
R2 K3
R3 K3
4
3
5
9
5
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
0 K1 4 ) K1 4
0 K2 3 ) K2 3
R2 K2 R2 3 5 ) R2 2
R2 K3 2 K3 9 ) K3 7
R3 K3 R3 7 5 ) R3 2
R2 2
R3
K2 3
X
X
K3 7
3
5
5
X
X
9
5
Iij Cij
Ri
Kj
Transportation problems
I13 C13
I21 C21
I31 C31
I32 C32
R1
R2
R3
R3
K3 8
K1 7
K1 4
K2 5
0 71
2 41
( 2) 4 2
( 2) 3 4
R2 2
R3
4
7
4
K2 3
0
0
4
3
5
5
K3 7
1
0
0
8
9
5
Notice that the occupied cells have been indicated with ringed zeros.
&
13
14
Transportation problems
B
6
200
100
100
3
Demand
200
C
3
Supply
8
200
100
200
300
9
5
300
300
100
700
6
3
5
9
5
Taking R1 0, we obtain R2 2, R3
K3 7.
2, K1 6, K2 3 and
8
7
4
5
0 71
2 6 1
( 2) 6 0
( 2) 3 4
Exercise 1C
1 In Example 2 we considered the transportation problem given
by the following table of supply, demand and unit costs:
To
Supply
10
12
40
50
11
60
Demand
70
50
30
From
Transportation problems
40
30
B
10
4
11
3
Demand
70
20
30
50
Supply
12
30
30
40
50
60
150
W1
W2
W3
Availability
F1
F2
F3
Requirement
From
15
16
Transportation problems
W2
W3
Availability
S1
10
11
14
S2
12
10
S3
Requirement
10
12
X
X
Transportation problems
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
200
100 y
100
300
3
200
200
200
300
100
100
300
You may check each row and column in turn to see that the
constraints are satisfied.
To satisfy the non-negativity condition and improve the solution
as much as possible we make y as large as possible without making
any entry negative. So choose y min(100, 200) 100.
Taking y 100 gives us the new improved solution:
100
100
200
200
100
9
5
17
18
Transportation problems
6
3
7
9
5
K1 6
R1 0
R2 1
R3
Taking R1 0, we obtain R2 1, R3
K3 8 (see table).
K2 3
X
K3 8
X
X
9
5
3, K1 6, K2 3 and
8
5
4
5
0 80
1 31
( 3) 6 1
( 3) 3 5
X
X
X
Transportation problems
100
200
100 y
200
100
In this case y min(100, 200) 100, so we have the alternative
solution:
6
200
send
200
100
100
100
8
9
5
Exercise 1D
1 In question 3 of Exercise 1C you showed that the solution
obtained by the north-west corner rule was not optimal.
Obtain an improved solution using the stepping-stone method
and show that this solution is optimal.
2 A lumber company ships pine flooring from its three mills, A1 ,
A2 and A3 , to three building suppliers, B1 , B2 and B3 . The
table below shows the demand, availabilities and unit costs of
transportation. Starting with the north-west corner solution
and using the stepping-stone method, determine the
transportation pattern that minimises the total cost.
B1
B2
B3
Availability
A1
25
A2
40
A3
31
Demand
30
30
36
19
20
Transportation problems
1
2
Demand
Dummy
Supply
40
65
70
30
300
350
350
400
100
750
40
70
300
50
300
65
30
350
100
100
350
400
750
X
35
40
70
X
X
65
30
Transportation problems
X
X
50
300 y
y
100
50
350
50
40
70
R2 0
K3 0
65
30
X
X
0
0
0
0
30 35
40 30
21
22
Transportation problems
Exercise 1E
1 A manufacturing company has three factories, F1 , F2 and F3 ,
and two retail outlets, R1 and R2 . It wishes to transport its
products from its factories to its outlets at minimum total
cost. The table below gives details of demand and supply, and
also the unit costs of transportation.
To
R1
R2
Supply
F1
30
F2
60
F3
20
Demand
60
20
From
D1
D2
D3
Supply
S1
10
50
S2
60
Demand
70
30
40
From
Transportation problems
(b) Write down the north-west corner solution and then use
the stepping-stone method to obtain an optimal solution.
(c) Interpret your optimal solution and obtain the minimum
cost.
Degeneracy
&
B
5
1
2
3
Demand
C
4
Supply
12
10
11
11
100
200
200
200
100
200
500
A
100
5
8
100
100
11
3
Demand
100
C
4
12
10
200
Supply
200
200
11
200
100
200
500
23
24
Transportation problems
5
4
6
10
11
K1 5
R1 0
R2 2
R3 3
K2 4
5
8
11
X
X
K3 8
4
6
7
12
X
X
10
11
12 0 8 4
8 2 51
11 3 5 3
7 3 40
Transportation problems
From
B
2
C
4
2
Demand
100
Supply
150
150
200
100
350
From
1
100
B
2
50
2
Demand
C
4
100
100
Supply
100
150
150
200
100
350
K2 4
R2 4
K3 2
4
8
0
4
23
2 3
1
2
100 y
X
50 y
X
X
100 y
25
26
Transportation problems
From
B
2
1
2
100
Demand
100
150
Supply
100
150
150
200
100
350
The number of used cells is 3 and since this is less than the magic
number (3 2 1) 4 the solution is degenerate. This is because
two formerly occupied cells have dropped to zero. To proceed we
have to add a zero to one of the unoccupied cells and then treat it
as occupied. It is usual to choose the cell with the lowest shipping
cost, in this case (1, 1).
The R and K values are:
K1 2
R1 0
R2 1
K2 4
2
K3 5
4
8
0
1
50
43
Transportation problems
Exercise 1F
1 A manufacturing company produces diesel engines in three
cities, C1 , C2 and C3 , and they are purchased by three trucking
companies, T1 , T2 and T3 . The table below shows the number
of engines available at C1 , C2 and C3 and the number of
engines required by T1 , T2 and T3 . It also shows the
transportation cost per engine (in 100s) from sources to
destinations. The company wishes to keep the total
transportation costs to a minimum.
To
T1
T2
T3
Supply
C1
25
C2
35
C3
20
Demand
30
30
20
From
(a) Write down the north-west corner solution and state why
it is degenerate.
(b) Use the stepping-stone method to obtain the optimal
solution.
(c) Give the transportation pattern and its total cost.
2 A builders' merchant has 13 tons of sand at site X, 11 tons at site
Y and 10 tons at site Z. He has orders for 9 tons from customer
A, 13 tons from customer B and 12 tons from customer C. The
cost per ton (in 10s) of moving the sand between depots and
customers is given in the table below.
A
27
28
Transportation problems
D2
D3
Supply
S1
17
14
30
S2
15
10
20
20
S3
20
10
10
Demand
10
20
30
Ri Kj .