Chapter 3

Linear Programming
Applications

Power Point slides created by Brian Peterson

 Learning Objectives
After completing this chapter, students will be able to:

1. Model a wide variety of medium to large LP

problems.
2. Understand major application areas,
including marketing, production, labor
scheduling, fuel blending, transportation, and
finance.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-2

 Chapter Outline

n Introduction
n Marketing Applications
n Manufacturing Applications
n Employee Scheduling Applications
n Financial Applications
n Ingredient Blending Applications
n Transportation Applications

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-3

 Marketing Applications
n Media selection problems :
n Maximize audience exposure.
n Minimize advertising costs.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-4

 Win Big Gambling Club
n The Win Big Gambling Club promotes gambling
junkets to the Bahamas.
n It has $8,000 per week to spend on advertising.
n Its goal is to reach the largest possible high-
potential audience.
n Media types and audience figures are shown in
the following table.
n It needs to place at least five radio spots per week.
n No more than $1,800 can be spent on radio
advertising each week.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-5

 Win Big Gambling Club
Advertising options

AUDIENCE COST PER MAXIMUM ADS

MEDIUM REACHED PER AD AD ($) PER WEEK
TV spot (1 minute) 5,000 800 12
Daily newspaper (full-
8,500 925 5
page ad)
Radio spot (30
2,400 290 25
seconds, prime time)
Radio spot (1 minute,
2,800 380 20
afternoon)

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-6

 Win Big Gambling Club
The problem formulation is
X1 = number of 1-minute TV spots each week
X2 = number of daily paper ads each week
X3 = number of 30-second radio spots each week
X4 = number of 1-minute radio spots each week
Objective:
Maximize audience coverage = 5,000X1 + 8,500X2 + 2,400X3 + 2,800X4
Subject to X1 ≤ 12 (max TV spots/wk)
X2 ≤5 (max newspaper ads/wk)
X3 ≤ 25 (max 30-sec radio spots ads/wk)
X4 ≤ 20 (max newspaper ads/wk)
800X1 + 925X2 + 290X3 + 380X4 ≤ $8,000 (weekly advertising budget)
X3 + X4 ≥5 (min radio spots contracted)
290X3 + 380X4 ≤ $1,800 (max dollars spent on radio)
X1, X2, X3, X4 ≥0

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-7

 Management Sciences
Association
n Management Sciences Associates (MSA) is a
marketing research firm.
n MSA determines that it must fulfill several
requirements in order to draw statistically valid
conclusions:
n Survey at least 2,300 U.S. households.
n Survey at least 1,000 households whose heads are 30
years of age or younger.
n Survey at least 600 households whose heads are
between 31 and 50 years of age.
n Ensure that at least 15% of those surveyed live in a
state that borders on Mexico.
n Ensure that no more than 20% of those surveyed who
are 51 years of age or over live in a state that borders
on Mexico.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-8
 Management Sciences
Association
n MSA decides that all surveys should be conducted
in person.
n It estimates the costs of reaching people in each
age and region category are as follows:

COST PER PERSON SURVEYED ($)

REGION AGE ≤ 30 AGE 31-50 AGE ≥ 51

State bordering Mexico $7.50 $6.80 $5.50

State not bordering Mexico $6.90 $7.25 $6.10

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-9

 Management Sciences
Association
n MSA’s goal is to meet the sampling requirements
at the least possible cost.
n The decision variables are:

X1 = number of 30 or younger and in a border state

X2 = number of 31-50 and in a border state
X3 = number 51 or older and in a border state
X4 = number 30 or younger and not in a border state
X5 = number of 31-50 and not in a border state
X6 = number 51 or older and not in a border state

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-10

 Management Sciences
Association
Objective function
Minimize total
= $7.50X1 + $6.80X2 + $5.50X3
interview costs
+ $6.90X4 + $7.25X5 + $6.10X6

subject to
X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 + X5 + X6 ≥ 2,300 (total households)
X1 + X4 ≥ 1,000 (households 30 or younger)
X2 + X5 ≥ 600 (households 31-50)
X1 + X2 + X3 ≥ 0.15(X1 + X2+ X3 + X4 + X5 + X6) (border states)
X3 ≤ 0.20(X3 + X6) (limit on age group 51+ who can live in
border state)
X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 , X5 , X6 ≥ 0

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-11

 Management Sciences
Association
n The following table summarizes the results of the
MSA analysis.
n It will cost MSA $15,166 to conduct this research.

REGION AGE ≤ 30 AGE 31-50 AGE ≥ 51

State bordering Mexico 0 600 140

State not bordering Mexico 1,000 0 560

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-12

 Manufacturing Applications

n Production Mix
n LP can be used to plan the optimal mix of
products to manufacture.
n Company must meet a myriad of constraints,
ranging from financial concerns to sales
demand to material contracts to union labor
demands.
n Its primary goal is to generate the largest profit
possible.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-13

 Fifth Avenue Industries
n Fifth Avenue Industries produces four varieties of
ties:
n One is expensive all-silk
n One is all-polyester
n Two are polyester and cotton blends
n The table on the below shows the cost and
availability of the three materials used in the
production process:

MATERIAL AVAILABLE PER

MATERIAL COST PER YARD ($) MONTH (YARDS)
Silk 24 1,200
Polyester 6 3,000
Cotton 9 1,600

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-14

 Fifth Avenue Industries
n The firm has contracts with several major
department store chains to supply ties.
n Contracts require a minimum number of ties but
may be increased if demand increases.
n Fifth Avenue’s goal is to maximize monthly profit
given the following decision variables.

X1 = number of all-silk ties produced per month

X2 = number all-polyester ties
X3 = number of blend 1 polyester-cotton ties
X4 = number of blend 2 silk-cotton ties

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-15

 Fifth Avenue Industries Data

MATERIAL
SELLING MONTHLY REQUIRED
VARIETY OF PRICE PER CONTRACT MONTHLY PER TIE MATERIAL
TIE TIE ($) MINIMUM DEMAND (YARDS) REQUIREMENTS
All silk 19.24 5,000 7,000 0.125 100% silk

All polyester 8.70 10,000 14,000 0.08 100% polyester

Poly – cotton 50% polyester –

9.52 13,000 16,000 0.10
blend 1 50% cotton

Silk-cotton 60% silk - 40%

10.64 5,000 8,500 0.11
blend 2 cotton

Table 8.1

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-16

 Fifth Avenue Industries
n Fifth Avenue also has to calculate profit per tie
for the objective function.

SELLING MATERIAL MATERIAL

PRICE REQUIRED PER COST PER COST PER PROFIT
VARIETY OF TIE PER TIE ($) TIE (YARDS) YARD ($) TIE ($) PER TIE ($)
All silk $19.24 0.125 $24 $3.00 $16.24
All polyester $8.70 0.08 $6 $0.48 $8.22
Poly-cotton
$9.52 0.05 $6 $0.30
blend 1
0.05 $9 $0.45 $8.77
Silk – cotton
$10.64 0.06 $24 $1.44
blend 2
0.06 $9 $0.54 $8.66

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-17

 Fifth Avenue Industries
The complete Fifth Avenue Industries Model
Objective function
Maximize profit = $16.24X1 + $8.22X2 + $8.77X3 + $8.66X4
Subject to 0.125X1+ 0.066X4 ≤ 1200 (yds of silk)
0.08X2 + 0.05X3 ≤ 3,000 (yds of polyester)
0.05X3 + 0.44X4 ≤ 1,600 (yds of cotton)
X1 ≥ 5,000 (contract min for silk)
X1 ≤ 7,000 (contract min)
X2 ≥ 10,000 (contract min for all polyester)
X2 ≤ 14,000 (contract max)
X3 ≥ 13,000 (contract mini for blend 1)
X3 ≤ 16,000 (contract max)
X4 ≥ 5,000 (contract mini for blend 2)
X4 ≤ 8,500 (contract max)
X1, X2, X3, X4 ≥ 0
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-18
 Manufacturing Applications

n Production Scheduling
n Setting a low-cost production schedule over a
period of weeks or months is a difficult and
important management task.
n Important factors include labor capacity,
inventory and storage costs, space limitations,
product demand, and labor relations.
n When more than one product is produced, the
scheduling process can be quite complex.
n The problem resembles the product mix model
for each time period in the future.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-19

 Greenberg Motors
n Greenberg Motors, Inc. manufactures two
different electric motors for sale under contract
to Drexel Corp.
n Drexel places orders three times a year for four
months at a time.
n Demand varies month to month as shown below.
n Greenberg wants to develop its production plan
for the next four months.

MODEL JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL

GM3A 800 700 1,000 1,100
GM3B 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,400

Table 8.2
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-20
 Greenberg Motors
n Production planning at Greenberg must consider
four factors:
n Desirability of producing the same number of motors
each month to simplify planning and scheduling.
n Necessity to keep inventory carrying costs down.
n Warehouse limitations.
n Its no-lay-off policy.
n LP is a useful tool for creating a minimum total
cost schedule the resolves conflicts between
these factors.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-21

 Greenberg Motors

Ai = Number of model GM3A motors produced in month i

(i = 1, 2, 3, 4 for January – April)
Bi = Number of model GM3B motors produced in month i

n It costs $20 to produce a GM3A and $15 to

produce a GM3B
n Both costs increase by 10% on March 1, thus

Cost of production = $20A1 + $20A2 + $22A3 + $22A4

+ $15B1 + $15B2 + $16.50B3 + $16.50B4

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-22

 Greenberg Motors
n We can use the same approach to create the portion of the
objective function dealing with inventory carrying costs.

IAi= Units of GM3A left in inventory at the end of month i (i

= 1, 2, 3, 4 for January – April)
IBi= Units of GM3B left in inventory at the end of month i (i
= 1, 2, 3, 4 for January – April)

n The carrying cost for GM3A motors is $0.36 per

unit per month and the GM3B costs $0.26 per unit
per month.
n Monthly ending inventory levels are used for the
average inventory level.
Cost of carrying inventory = $0.36A1 + $0.36A2 + $0.36A3 + 0.36A4
+ $0.26B1 + $0.26B2 + $0.26B3 + $0.26B4
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-23
 Greenberg Motors
We combine these two for the objective function:
Minimize total cost = $20A1 + $20A2 + $22A3 + 22A4
+ $15B1 + $15B2 + $16.50B3 + $16.50B4
+ $0.36IA1 + $0.36IA2 + $0.36IA3 + 0.36IA4
+ $0.26IB1 + $0.26IB2 + $0.26IB3 + $0.26IB4

End of month inventory is calculated using this

relationship:

Inventory Current
Inventory at Sales to
at the end month’s
of last + production – the end of = Drexel this
this month month
month

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-24

 Greenberg Motors
n Greenberg is starting a new four-month
production cycle with a change in design
specification that left no old motors in stock on
January 1.
n Given January demand for both motors:

IA1 = 0 + A1 – 800
IB1 = 0 + B1 – 1,000
n Rewritten as January’s constraints:
A1 – IA1 = 800
B1 – IB1 = 1,000

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-25

 Greenberg Motors
Constraints for February, March, and April:
A2 + IA1 – IA2 = 700 February GM3A demand
B2 + IB1 – IB2 = 1,200 February GM3B demand
A3 + IA2 – IA3 = 1,000 March GM3A demand
B3 + IB2 – IB3 = 1,400 March GM3B demand
A4 + IA3 – IA4 = 1,100 April GM3A demand
B4 + IB3 – IB4 = 1,400 April GM3B demand

And constraints for April’s ending inventory:

IA4 = 450
IB4 = 300

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-26

 Greenberg Motors
n We also need constraints for warehouse space:
IA1 + IB1 ≤ 3,300
IA2 + IB2 ≤ 3,300
IA3 + IB3 ≤ 3,300
IA4 + IB4 ≤ 3,300
n No worker is ever laid off so Greenberg has a
base employment level of 2,240 labor hours per
month.
n By adding temporary workers, available labor
hours can be increased to 2,560 hours per month.
n Each GM3A motor requires 1.3 labor hours and
each GM3B requires 0.9 hours.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-27
 Greenberg Motors
Labor hour constraints:
1.3A1 + 0.9B1 ≥ 2,240 (January min hrs/month)
1.3A1 + 0.9B1 ≤ 2,560 (January max hrs/month)
1.3A2 + 0.9B2 ≥ 2,240 (February labor min)
1.3A2 + 0.9B2 ≤ 2,560 (February labor max)
1.3A3 + 0.9B3 ≥ 2,240 (March labor min)
1.3A3 + 0.9B3 ≤ 2,560 (March labor max)
1.3A4 + 0.9B4 ≥ 2,240 (April labor min)
1.3A4 + 0.9B4 ≤ 2,560 (April labor max)
All variables ≥0 Nonnegativity constraints

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-28

 Greenberg Motors
Solution to Greenberg Motors Problem
PRODUCTION SCHEDULE JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL

Units GM3A produced 1,277 223 1,758 792

Units GM3B produced 1,000 2,522 78 1,700

Inventory GM3A carried 477 0 758 450

Inventory GM3B carried 0 1,322 0 300

Labor hours required 2,560 2,560 2,355 2,560

Table 8.3
n Total cost for this four month period is
$169,294.90.
n Complete model has 16 variables and 22
constraints.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-29
 Employee Scheduling Applications

n Labor Planning
n These problems address staffing needs over a
particular time.
n They are especially useful when there is some
flexibility in assigning workers that require
overlapping or interchangeable talents.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-30

 Hong Kong Bank of Commerce
and Industry
n Hong Kong Bank of Commerce and Industry has
requirements for between 10 and 18 tellers
depending on the time of day.
n Lunch time from noon to 2 pm is generally the
busiest.
n The bank employs 12 full-time tellers but has
many part-time workers available.
n Part-time workers must put in exactly four hours
per day, can start anytime between 9 am and 1
pm, and are inexpensive.
n Full-time workers work from 9 am to 3 pm and
have 1 hour for lunch.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-31

 Hong Kong Bank of Commerce
and Industry
Labor requirements for Hong Kong Bank of
Commerce and Industry

TIME PERIOD NUMBER OF TELLERS REQUIRED

9 am – 10 am 10
10 am – 11 am 12
11 am – Noon 14
Noon – 1 pm 16
1 pm – 2 pm 18
2 pm – 3 pm 17
3 pm – 4 pm 15
4 pm – 5 pm 10

Table 8.4
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-32
 Hong Kong Bank of Commerce and
Industry
n Part-time hours are limited to a maximum of 50%
of the day’s total requirements.
n Part-timers earn $8 per hour on average.
n Full-timers earn $100 per day on average.
n The bank wants a schedule that will minimize
total personnel costs.
n It will release one or more of its part-time tellers if
it is profitable to do so.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-33

 Hong Kong Bank of Commerce and
Industry
Let
F = full-time tellers
P1 = part-timers starting at 9 am (leaving at 1 pm)
P2 = part-timers starting at 10 am (leaving at 2 pm)
P3 = part-timers starting at 11 am (leaving at 3 pm)
P4 = part-timers starting at noon (leaving at 4 pm)
P5 = part-timers starting at 1 pm (leaving at 5 pm)

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-34

 Hong Kong Bank of Commerce and
Industry
Objective:
Minimize total daily
personnel cost = $100F + $32(P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + P5)
subject to:
F + P1 ≥ 10 (9 am – 10 am needs)
F + P1 + P2 ≥ 12 (10 am – 11 am needs)
0.5F + P1 + P2 + P3 ≥ 14 (11 am – noon needs)
0.5F + P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 ≥ 16 (noon – 1 pm needs)
F + P2 + P3 + P4 + P5 ≥ 18 (1 pm – 2 pm needs)
F + P3 + P4 + P5 ≥ 17 (2 pm – 3 pm needs)
F + P4 + P5 ≥ 15 (3 pm – 4 pm needs)
F + P5 ≥ 10 (4 pm – 5 pm needs)
F ≤ 12 (12 full-time tellers)
4P1 + 4P2 + 4P3 + 4P4 + 4P5 ≤ 0.50(112) (max 50% part-timers)
P1 , P2 , P3 , P4 , P5 ≥ 0
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-35
 Hong Kong Bank of Commerce and
Industry
n There are several alternate optimal schedules
Hong Kong Bank can follow:
n F = 10, P2 = 2, P3 = 7, P4 = 5, P1, P5 = 0
n F = 10, P1 = 6, P2 = 1, P3 = 2, P4 = 5, P5 = 0
n The cost of either of these two policies is $1,448
per day.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-36

 Labor Planning Solution in
Excel 2010

Program 8.5

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-37

 Financial Applications

n Portfolio Selection
n Bank, investment funds, and insurance
companies often have to select specific
investments from a variety of alternatives.
n The manager’s overall objective is generally to
maximize the potential return on the
investment given a set of legal, policy, or risk
restraints.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-38

 International City Trust

n International City Trust (ICT) invests in short-term

trade credits, corporate bonds, gold stocks, and
construction loans.
n The board of directors has placed limits on how
much can be invested in each area:

INTEREST MAXIMUM INVESTMENT

INVESTMENT EARNED (%) ($ MILLIONS)
Trade credit 7 1.0
Corporate bonds 11 2.5
Gold stocks 19 1.5
Construction loans 15 1.8

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-39

 International City Trust

n ICT has $5 million to invest and wants to

accomplish two things:
n Maximize the return on investment over the next six
months.
n Satisfy the diversification requirements set by the
board.
n The board has also decided that at least 55% of
the funds must be invested in gold stocks and
construction loans and no less than 15% be
invested in trade credit.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-40

 International City Trust

The variables in the model are:

X1 = dollars invested in trade credit

X2 = dollars invested in corporate bonds
X3 = dollars invested in gold stocks
X4 = dollars invested in construction loans

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-41

 International City Trust
Objective:
Maximize
dollars of
interest = 0.07X1 + 0.11X2 + 0.19X3 + 0.15X4
earned

subject to: X1 ≤ 1,000,000

X2 ≤ 2,500,000
X3 ≤ 1,500,000
X4 ≤ 1,800,000
X3 + X4 ≥ 0.55(X1 + X2 + X3 + X4)
X1 ≥ 0.15(X1 + X2 + X3 + X4)
X1 + X2 + X3 + X4 ≤ 5,000,000
X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 ≥ 0

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-42

 International City Trust

n The optimal solution to the ICT is to make the

following investments:
X1 = $750,000
X2 = $950,000
X3 = $1,500,000
X4 = $1,800,000
n The total interest earned with this plan is
$712,000.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-43

 Truck Loading Problem
n Truck Loading Problem
n The truck loading problem involves deciding
which items to load on a truck so as to
maximize the value of a load shipped.
n Goodman Shipping has to ship the following
six items:
ITEM VALUE ($) WEIGHT (POUNDS)
1 22,500 7,500
2 24,000 7,500
3 8,000 3,000
4 9,500 3,500
5 11,500 4,000
6 9,750 3,500

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-44

 Goodman Shipping
n The objective is to maximize the value of items
loaded into the truck.
n The truck has a capacity of 10,000 pounds.
n The decision variable is:
Xi = proportion of each item i loaded on the truck

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-45

 Goodman Shipping
Objective:
Maximize $22,500X1 + $24,000X2 + $8,000X3
=
load value + $9,500X4 + $11,500X5 + $9,750X6
subject to
7,500X1 + 7,500X2 + 3,000X3
+ 3,500X4 + 4,000X5 + 3,500X6 ≤ 10,000 lb capacity
X1 ≤1
X2 ≤1
X3 ≤1
X4 ≤1
X5 ≤1
X6 ≤1
X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 , X5 , X6 ≥0
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-46
 Goodman Shipping
n The Goodman Shipping problem raises an
interesting issue:
n The solution calls for one third of Item 1 to be loaded on
the truck.
n What if Item 1 cannot be divided into smaller pieces?
n Rounding down leaves unused capacity on the
truck and results in a value of $24,000.
n Rounding up is not possible since this would
exceed the capacity of the truck.
n Using integer programming, in which the solution
is required to contain only integers, the solution
is to load one unit of Items 3, 4, and 6 for a value
of $27,250.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-47

 Ingredient Blending Applications

n Diet Problems
n This is one of the earliest LP applications, and
is used to determine the most economical diet
for hospital patients.
n This is also known as the feed mix problem.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-48

 Whole Food Nutrition Center

n The Whole Food Nutrition Center uses three bulk

grains to blend a natural cereal.
n It advertises that the cereal meets the U.S.
Recommended Daily Allowance (USRDA) for four
key nutrients.
n It wants to select the blend that will meet the
requirements at the minimum cost.
NUTRIENT USRDA
Protein 3 units
Riboflavin 2 units
Phosphorus 1 unit
Magnesium 0.425 unit

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-49

 Whole Food Nutrition Center

Let
XA = pounds of grain A in one 2-ounce serving of cereal
XB = pounds of grain B in one 2-ounce serving of cereal
XC = pounds of grain C in one 2-ounce serving of cereal

Whole Food’s Natural Cereal requirements:

COST PER PROTEIN RIBOFLAVIN PHOSPHOROUS MAGNESIUM
GRAIN POUND (CENTS) (UNITS/LB) (UNITS/LB) (UNITS/LB) (UNITS/LB)
A 33 22 16 8 5
B 47 28 14 7 0
C 38 21 25 9 6

Table 8.5
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-50
 Whole Food Nutrition Center

The objective is:

Minimize total cost of
= $0.33XA + $0.47XB + $0.38XC
mixing a 2-ounce serving

subject to
22XA + 28XB + 21XC ≥ 3 (protein units)
16XA + 14XB + 25XC ≥ 2 (riboflavin units)
8XA + 7XB + 9XC ≥ 1 (phosphorous units)
5XA + 0XB + 6XC ≥ 0.425 (magnesium units)
XA + XB + XC = 0.125 (total mix)
XA , XB , XC ≥ 0

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-51

 Ingredient Blending Applications

n Ingredient Mix and Blending Problems

n Diet and feed mix problems are special cases
of a more general class of problems known as
ingredient or blending problems.
n Blending problems arise when decisions must
be made regarding the blending of two or more
resources to produce one or more product.
n Resources may contain essential ingredients
that must be blended so that a specified
percentage is in the final mix.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-52

 Low Knock Oil Company
n The Low Knock Oil Company produces two
grades of cut-rate gasoline for industrial
distribution.
n The two grades, regular and economy, are
created by blending two different types of crude
oil.
n The crude oil differs in cost and in its content of
crucial ingredients.

CRUDE OIL TYPE INGREDIENT A (%) INGREDIENT B (%) COST/BARREL ($)

X100 35 55 30.00
X220 60 25 34.80

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-53

 Low Knock Oil Company
The firm lets
X1 = barrels of crude X100 blended to produce the
refined regular
X2 = barrels of crude X100 blended to produce the
refined economy
X3 = barrels of crude X220 blended to produce the
refined regular
X4 = barrels of crude X220 blended to produce the
refined economy

The objective function is

Minimize cost = $30X1 + $30X2 + $34.80X3 + $34.80X4

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-54

 Low Knock Oil Company
Problem formulation
At least 45% of each barrel of regular must be ingredient A
(X1 + X3) = total amount of crude blended to produce
the refined regular gasoline demand
Thus,
0.45(X1 + X3) = amount of ingredient A required
But:
0.35X1 + 0.60X3 = amount of ingredient A in refined regular gas

So
0.35X1 + 0.60X3 ≥ 0.45X1 + 0.45X3
or
– 0.10X1 + 0.15X3 ≥ 0 (ingredient A in regular constraint)

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-55

 Low Knock Oil Company
Problem formulation

Minimize cost = 30X1 + 30X2 + 34.80X3 + 34.80X4

subject to X1 + X3 ≥ 25,000
X2 + X4 ≥ 32,000
– 0.10X1 + 0.15X3 ≥0
0.05X2 – 0.25X4 ≤ 0
X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 ≥ 0

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-56

 Transportation Applications

n Shipping Problem
n The transportation or shipping problem
involves determining the amount of goods or
items to be transported from a number of
origins to a number of destinations.
n The objective usually is to minimize total
shipping costs or distances.
n This is a specific case of LP and a special
algorithm has been developed to solve it.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-57

 Top Speed Bicycle Company
n The Top Speed Bicycle Co. manufactures and
markets a line of 10-speed bicycles.
n The firm has final assembly plants in two cities
where labor costs are low.
n It has three major warehouses near large markets.
n The sales requirements for the next year are:
n New York – 10,000 bicycles
n Chicago – 8,000 bicycles
n Los Angeles – 15,000 bicycles
n The factory capacities are:
n New Orleans – 20,000 bicycles
n Omaha – 15,000 bicycles

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-58

 Top Speed Bicycle Company
The cost of shipping bicycles from the plants to the
warehouses is different for each plant and
warehouse:
TO
FROM NEW YORK CHICAGO LOS ANGELES
New Orleans $2 $3 $5

Omaha $3 $1 $4

The company wants to develop a shipping schedule

that will minimize its total annual cost.

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-59

 Top Speed Bicycle Company
Network Representation of the Transportation Problem with
Costs, Demands, and Supplies

Figure 8.1

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education 8-60

 Top Speed Bicycle Company

The double subscript variables will represent the

origin factory and the destination warehouse:
Xij = bicycles shipped from factory i to warehouse j
So:
X11 = number of bicycles shipped from New Orleans to New York
X12 = number of bicycles shipped from New Orleans to Chicago
X13 = number of bicycles shipped from New Orleans to Los Angeles
X21 = number of bicycles shipped from Omaha to New York
X22 = number of bicycles shipped from Omaha to Chicago
X23 = number of bicycles shipped from Omaha to Los Angeles

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 Top Speed Bicycle Company
Objective:
Minimize
total
shipping = 2X11 + 3X12 + 5X13 + 3X21 + 1X22 + 4X23
costs

subject to X11 + X21 = 10,000 (New York demand)

X12 + X22 = 8,000 (Chicago demand)
X13 + X23 = 15,000 (Los Angeles demand)
X11 + X12 + X13 ≤ 20,000 (New Orleans factory supply)
X21 + X22 + X23 ≤ 15,000 (Omaha factory supply)
All variables ≥ 0

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 Top Speed Bicycle Company
Solution in Excel 2010

Program 8.10

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 Top Speed Bicycle Company
Top Speed Bicycle solution:
TO
FROM NEW YORK CHICAGO LOS ANGELES
New Orleans 10,000 0 8,000
Omaha 0 8,000 7,000

n Total shipping cost equals $96,000.

n Transportation problems are a special case of LP
as the coefficients for every variable in the
constraint equations equal 1.

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