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Blending or Mixing Problem:: Raw Materials Final Products

This document describes a blending (mixing) problem where multiple raw materials must be combined to produce a final product while minimizing costs and meeting demand. Specifically, it involves determining the optimal amounts of each raw material to purchase and blend such that the characteristics of the mixture satisfy constraints and total profit is maximized. Blending problems can be modeled and solved using linear programming to identify the most cost-effective solution. An example is provided involving blending various vegetable and non-vegetable oils to manufacture food within hardness and production capacity limits at maximum profit.

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umair talash
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204 views

Blending or Mixing Problem:: Raw Materials Final Products

This document describes a blending (mixing) problem where multiple raw materials must be combined to produce a final product while minimizing costs and meeting demand. Specifically, it involves determining the optimal amounts of each raw material to purchase and blend such that the characteristics of the mixture satisfy constraints and total profit is maximized. Blending problems can be modeled and solved using linear programming to identify the most cost-effective solution. An example is provided involving blending various vegetable and non-vegetable oils to manufacture food within hardness and production capacity limits at maximum profit.

Uploaded by

umair talash
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BLENDING or MIXING PROBLEM:

 Blending (Mixing) several components (or commodities or materials) to create one or more products
corresponding to a demand, for example
o A metal blending (mixing some metals to form an Alloy)
o A set of oil blending (combining different types of crude oil to form a gasoline)
o A food blending (mixing different kinds of oil to make final product)
 The Problem is to determine how much of each commodity should be purchased and blended with the
rest so that the characteristics of the mixture lie within specified bounds and the total cost (total profit)
is minimized (maximized).

Raw Blending Final


Materials (Mixing) Products
 Blending problems are frequently solved using Linear Programming (LP).

Example # 1: A food is manufactured by refining raw oils and blending them together. The raw oils are
of two categories:
Vegetable oils VEG 1
VEG 2
Non-vegetable oils OIL 1
OIL 2
OIL 3
Vegetable oils and non-vegetable oils require different production lines for refining. In any month, it is
not possible to refine more than 200 tons of vegetable oil and more than 250 tons of non-vegetable oils.
There is no loss of weight in the refining process and the cost of refining may be ignored. There is a
technological restriction of hardness in the final product. In the units in which hardness is measured, this
must lie between 3 and 6. It is assumed that hardness blends linearly. The costs (per ton) and hardness of
the raw oils are
VEG 1 VEG 2 OIL 1 OIL 2 OIL 3
Cost £110 £120 £130 £110 £115
Hardness 8.8 6.1 2.0 4.2 5.0
The final product sells at £150 per ton. How should the food manufacturer make their product in order to
maximize their net profit?

Model Formulation:

Decision Variables:
 x j = Quantities (tons) of VEG1, VEG2, OIL1, OIL2, OIL3(i.e. Raw material) that should be bought,
refined and blended in a month
 y = Quantity of the product that should be made

The Model:
Maximize: Z=150 y−110 x 1−120 x 2−130 x3 −110 x 4−115 x 5
Subject to:
x 1+ x2 ≤200 (Refining Capacity Constraint–1)
x 3+ x 4 + x 5 ≤ 250 (Refining Capacity Constraint–2)
8.8 x 1+ 6.1 x 2 +2.0 x3 + 4.2 x 4 +5.0 x 5−3 y ≥ 0 (Final product hardness limitation Constraint–1)
8.8 x 1+ 6.1 x 2 +2.0 x3 + 4.2 x 4 +5.0 x 5−6 y ≤ 0 (Final product hardness limitation Constraint–2)
x 1+ x2 + x 3 + x 4 + x 5− y=0 (Weight of final product must be equal to weight of the ingredients)
x i ≥ 0 ∀ i, y ≥ 0
Compact Model Formulation
Index:
 i = Raw material (i.e. Raw oil types)
 j = Production lines
Model Parameters:
 Cap j = Refining Capacity for the j th Production line
 c i= Unit cost of i th raw material
 p= Unit price the final product
 a i= Amount of hardness of i th raw material
 a = Minimum hardness required in the final product
 á = Maximum hardness required in the final product
Decision Variables:
x i = Quantity of the i th raw material
y = Quantity of the final product
The Model:
Maximize : py−∑ ci xi
i
Subject to:
∑ x i ≤Cap j ∀ j (Capacity constraint)
i

∑ ai x i−a y ≥ 0 (Hardness constraint–1)


i

∑ ai x i−á y ≤ 0 (Hardness constraint–2)


i

∑ x i= y (Wright Equality constraint)


i
x i ≥ 0 ∀ i, y ≥ 0

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