11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

OR-Notes
J E Beasley
OR-Notes are a series of introductory notes on topics that fall under
the broad heading of the field of operations research (OR). They were originally
used by me
in an introductory OR course I give at Imperial College. They
are now available for use by any students and teachers interested in OR
subject to the following
conditions.

A full list of the topics available in OR-Notes can be found here.

Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

Recall the production planning problem concerned with four variants

of the same product which we formulated before
as an LP. To remind you of it we repeat
below the problem and our formulation
of it.

Production planning problem

A company manufactures four variants of the same product and in the

final part of the manufacturing process there are assembly, polishing and
packing
operations. For each variant the time required for these operations
is shown below (in minutes) as is the profit per unit sold.

Assembly Polish Pack Profit (£)

Variant 1 2 3 2 1.50

2 4 2 3 2.50

3 3 3 2 3.00

4 7 4 5 4.50

Given the current state of the labour force the company estimate that,
each year, they have 100000 minutes of assembly time, 50000 minutes of
polishing
time and 60000 minutes of packing time available. How many of
each variant should the company make per year and what is the associated
profit?
Suppose now that the company is free to decide how much time to devote
to each of the three operations (assembly, polishing and packing) within
the
total allowable time of 210000 (= 100000 + 50000 + 60000) minutes.
How many of each variant should the company make per year and what is the
associated profit?

Production planning solution

Variables

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11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

Let:

xi be the number of units of variant i (i=1,2,3,4) made per

year

Tass be the number of minutes used in assembly per year

Tpol be the number of minutes used in polishing per year
Tpac be the number of minutes used in packing per year

where xi >= 0 i=1,2,3,4 and Tass, Tpol,

Tpac >= 0

Constraints

(a) operation time definition

Tass = 2x1 + 4x2 + 3x3 +

7x4 (assembly)
Tpol = 3x1 + 2x2 + 3x3 + 4x4
(polish)

Tpac = 2x1 + 3x2 + 2x3 + 5x4

(pack)

(b) operation time limits

The operation time limits depend upon the situation being considered.
In the first situation, where the maximum time that can be spent on each
operation is
specified, we simply have:

Tass <= 100000 (assembly)

Tpol <= 50000 (polish)

Tpac <= 60000 (pack)

In the second situation, where the only limitation is on the total time
spent on all operations, we simply have:

Tass + Tpol + Tpac <= 210000 (total

time)

Objective

Presumably to maximise profit - hence we have

maximise 1.5x1 + 2.5x2 + 3.0x3 + 4.5x4

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11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

which gives us the complete formulation of the problem.

Solution - using Solver

Below we solve this LP with the Solver add-in that comes with Microsoft
Excel.

If you click here you will be able to download

an Excel spreadsheet called lp.xls that already has the LP we are considering
set up.

Look at Sheet A in lp.xls and to use Solver do Tools and then Solver.
In the version of Excel I am using (different versions of Excel have slightly
different
Solver formats) you will get the Solver model as below:

but where now we have highlighted (clicked on) two of the Reports available
- Answer and Sensitivity. Click OK and you will find that two new sheets
have
been added to the spreadsheet - an Answer Report and a Sensitivity
Report.

As these reports are indicative of the information that is commonly

available when we solve a LP via a computer we shall deal with each of
them in turn.

Answer Report

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11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

The answer report can be seen below:

This is the most self-explanatory report.

We can see that the optimal solution to the LP has value 58000 (£)
and that Tass=82000, Tpol=50000, Tpac=60000,
X1=0, X2=16000, X3=6000 and X4=0.

Note that we had three constraints for total assembly, total polishing
and total packing time in our LP. The assembly time constraint is declared
to be 'Not
Binding' whilst the other two constraints are declared to be
'Binding'. Constraints with a 'Slack' value of zero are said to be tight
or binding in that they are
satisfied with equality at the LP optimal.
Constraints which are not tight are called loose or not binding.

Sensitivity Report

The sensitivity report can be seen below:

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11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

This sensitivity report provides us with information relating to:

changing the objective function coefficient for a variable

forcing a variable which is currently zero to be non-zero
changing the right-hand side of a constraint.

We deal with each of these in turn, and note here that the analysis
presented below ONLY applies for a single change, if two or more things
change then we
effectively need to resolve the LP.

Changing the objective function coefficient for a variable

To illustrate this suppose we vary the coefficient of X2

in the objective function. How will the LP optimal solution change?

Currently X1=0, X2=16000, X3=6000 and

X4=0. The current solution value for X2 of 16000
is in cell B3 and the current objective function coefficient for X2
is
2.5. The Allowable Increase/Decrease columns tell us that, provided
the coefficient of X2 in the objective function lies between
2.5+2 = 4.5 and 2.5 -
0.142857143 = 2.3571 (to four decimal places), the
values of the variables in the optimal LP solution will remain unchanged.
Note though that the actual
optimal solution value will change as the objective
function coefficient of X2 is changing.

In terms of the original problem we are effectively saying that the

decision to produce 16000 of variant 2 and 6000 of variant 3 remains optimal
even if the
profit per unit on variant 2 is not actually 2.5 (but lies
in the range 2.3571 to 4.50). Similar conclusions can be drawn about X1,
X3 and X4.

Forcing a variable which is currently zero to be non-zero

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11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

For the variables, the Reduced Cost column gives us, for each variable
which is currently zero (X1 and X4), an estimate
of how much the objective function will
change if we make (force) that
variable to be non-zero. Note here that the value in the Reduced Cost column
for a variable is often called the 'opportunity cost'
for the variable.

Hence we have the table

Variable X1 X4

Reduced Cost (opportunity cost) 1.5 0.2

New value (= or >=) X1=A X4=B

or X1>=A X4>=B

Estimated objective function change 1.5A 0.2B

where we ignore the sign of the reduced cost when constructing the above
table. The objective function will always get worse (go down if we have
a
maximisation problem, go up if we have a minimisation problem) by at
least this estimate. The larger A or B are the more inaccurate this estimate
is of the exact
change that would occur if we were to resolve the LP with
the corresponding constraint for the new value of X1 or X4
added.

Note here than an alternative (and equally valid) interpretation of

the reduced cost is the amount by which the objective function coefficient
for a variable needs
to change before that variable will become non-zero.

Hence for variable X1 the objective function needs to change

by 1.5 (increase since we are maximising) before that variable becomes
non-zero. In other words,
referring back to our original situation, the
profit per unit on variant 1 would need to increase by 1.5 before it would
be profitable to produce any of variant 1.
Similarly the profit per unit
on variant 4 would need to increase by 0.2 before it would be profitable
to produce any of variant 4.

Changing the right-hand side of a constraint

For each constraint the column headed Shadow Price tells us exactly
how much the objective function will change if we change the right-hand
side of the
corresponding constraint within the limits given in the Allowable
Increase/Decrease columns

Hence we can form the table

Constraint Assembly Polish Pack

Opportunity (Reduced) Cost (ignore sign) 0 0.80 0.30

Change in right-hand side a b c

Objective function change 0 0.80b 0.30c

Lower limit for right-hand side 82000 40000 33333.34

Current value for right-hand side 100000 50000 60000

Upper limit for right-hand side - 90000 75000

For example for the polish constraint, provided the right-hand side
of that constraint remains between 50000 + 40000 =90000 and 50000 - 10000
= 40000 the
objective function change will be exactly 0.80[change in right-hand
side from 50000].

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11/4/21, 11:37 AM Linear programming - sensitivity analysis - using Solver

The direction of the change in the objective function (up or down) depends
upon the direction of the change in the right-hand side of the constraint
and the
nature of the objective (maximise or minimise).

To decide whether the objective function will go up or down use:

constraint more (less) restrictive after change in right-hand side

implies objective function worse (better)
if objective is maximise (minimise) then worse means down (up), better
means up (down)

Hence

if you had an extra 100 hours to which operation would you assign it?
if you had to take 50 hours away from polishing or packing which one
would you choose?
what would the new objective function value be in these two cases?

The value in the column headed Shadow Price for a constraint is often
called the 'marginal value' or 'dual value' for that constraint.

Note that, as would seem logical, if the constraint is loose the shadow
price is zero (as if the constraint is loose a small change in the right-hand
side cannot alter
the optimal solution).

Comments

Different LP packages have different formats for input/output but the

same information as discussed above is still obtained.
You may have found the above confusing. Essentially the interpretation
of LP output is something that comes with practice.
Much of the information obtainable (as discussed above) as a by-product
of the solution of the LP problem can be useful to management in estimating
the
effect of changes (e.g. changes in costs, production capacities, etc)
without going to the hassle/expense of resolving the LP.
This sensitivity information gives us a measure of how robust
the solution is i.e. how sensitive it is to changes in input data.

Note here that, as mentioned above, the analysis given above relating
to:

changing the objective function coefficient for a variable; and

forcing a variable which is currently zero to be non-zero; and
changing the right-hand side of a constraint

is only valid for a single change. If two (or more) changes are made
the situation becomes more complex and it becomes advisable to resolve
the LP.

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