TUTORIAL 4 – TRANSPORTATION AND ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

Question 1
A company has four technicians to be assigned to repair four machines for their clients. The hourly profit
(RM) obtained by each technician is summarized in the following table:

Technician Machine
P Q R S
Ahmad 24 16 28 22
Badrul 20 18 20 16
Chong 28 16 14 22
David 12 20 16 18

Find the optimal assignment that will maximize the total hourly profit. What is the total hourly profit?
(A-R,B-Q,C-P,D-S,92)

Question 2
The manager of Motivation Training Agency has to assign four different facilitators to handle four different
programs. These facilitators would be paid at different rates per hour according to their experience. The
costs (RM) of assigning the facilitators are shown in the following table. Advice the owner how to make
the optimal assignment and calculate the minimum total cost.

Facilitator Program
I II III IV
Abu 210 90 180 160
Bakar 100 70 130 200
Ishak 175 105 140 170
Musa 80 65 105 120

(A-2,B-1,I-3,M-4,450)
Question 3
The Malaysian Royal Navy wishes to assign four warships to patrol four sectors of the Malaysian Costal
Areas on the lookout for illegal fishing activities and pirates. The relative efficiencies of these four
warships set by the commander are shown in the following table. Find the optimal assignment to
maximize efficiencies and calculate the total efficiencies.

Ship Sector
A B C D
1 90 65 95 40
2 70 60 80 75
3 85 40 80 60
4 55 80 65 55
(1-C,2-D,3-A,4-B,450)
Question 4
Fowle Marketing Research has four project leaders available for assignment to three clients. Find the
assignment of project leaders to clients that will minimize the total time to complete all projects. The
estimated project completion times in days are as follows:

Project leader Client 1 Client 2 Client 3

Azmi 10 15 9
Basir 9 18 5
Chen 9 14 3
Danny 8 16 6
(A-2,B-Dummy,C-3,D-1,26)
Question 5
A plywood producer manufactures plywood at three factories to meet the demand of three construction
sites. The factories are located at different locations. The production capacity at each factory and the
demand from each construction site are shown in the following tables:
Factory Capacity (units) Site Demand (units)
X 300 P 200
Y 200 Q 150
Z 100 R 230

The transportation cost (RM) per unit from each factory to each site is shown in the following table:
Factory Site
P Q R
X 7 4 6
Y 6 2 5
Z 12 5 11

a) Find an initial solution for this transportation problem.

b) Determine an optimal solution and the associated total transportation cost.
c) Which factory will have the surplus? State the surplus.
d) Is there any alternative optimal solution to this problem? If yes, find the alternative optimal
solution.

Question 6
The Awning Company manufactures awning for windows in two factories and ships them to four
distribution centers. The following table shows the cost (RM) per unit, capacity and demand for the
company:
To Distribution Centre Capacity
From Dungun Paka Kerteh Kemasik
Factory Ahmad 7 8 10 15 120
Factory Omar 11 8 9 13 80
Demand 30 50 60 60

a) Find the optimal solution to this problem.

b) Calculate the total transportation cost.

Question 7
A food contractor faces the problem of supplying school meals from three catering companies to four
schools. On any day, the number of meals required at the four schools is as follows:
School I II III IV
Number of meals required 130 95 75 100

The three caterers can supply the following number of meals.

Caterer Sedap Mesra Istimewa
Number of meals available 120 80 150

The cost (RM) per unit from each caterer to each school is as follows:
Caterer School
I II III IV
Sedap 6 2 6 3
Mesra 14 9 5 4
Istimewa 8 4 3 5

a) Determine an initial solution for the above transportation problem.

b) Find the optimal solution to this problem. What is the total transportation cost?
c) Is your optimal solution in (b) unique? Explain. If not, find an alternative optimal solution.
Question 8
A manufacturer produces refrigerators at plants located at Town A, Town B, and Town C. The
refrigerators are sent to the following region, Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western. Northern Region
needs to receive 300 units per month; Southern Region needs 300, Eastern Region needs 240 and
Western Region needs 200 units. The plant in Town A has 400 units available each month, Town B has
300 units and Town C has 300 units. The shipping costs vary, and the company would like to find the
least-cost way to meet the demands at each of the distribution centers.

The shipping cost (RM) per unit from each town to each region is given in the following table:
To Region
From Northern Southern Eastern Western
Town A 50 40 50 60
Town B 60 30 40 40
Town C 60 40 40 50

a) Determine the quantity of refrigerators that should be shipped from each plant to each region to
minimize the total shipping cost.
b) Calculate the total minimum cost.
c) Which region will experience shortage? How many is the shortage?
d) Is there more than one optimal solution to this problem? Why?

Question 9
The output from sources A, B and C are 100, 300 and 300 units respectively. The demand from
destinations 1, 2 and 3 are 200, 300 and 200 respectively. The unit cost for transporting from the sources
to the destinations is given as follows:
Sources \ destinations 1 2 3
A 4 10 6
B 8 16 6
C 14 18 10

a) Find the optimal transportation schedule that will minimize the total costs. What is the minimum
total cost?
b) Is there an alternate optimal solution? If so, find the solution and show that the total cost is the
same as that given in (a).

Question 10
The following table shows one solution for a transportation problem to minimize the cost.
1 2 3 Dummy

6 4 5 0
P 200 200
8 6 7 0
Q 100 200 300
5 5 6 0
R 100 100 100 300
400 200 100 100 800

a) Find the solution for next table.

b) Is the solution degenerate? Why? (You need not find the optimal solution)
Question 11

A paper manufacturer, PalpCo (M) Sdn. Bhd., has recently begun negotiations with publishers in the
areas where it intends to distribute its products. Before finalizing the agreements, however, PalpCo
manager wants to determine shipping routes and its costs. The company has three plants with capacities
as shown below:
Plant Capacity (tons per month)
X 250
Y 175
Z 325

There are four publishers which located in Bangi, Serdang, Kepong and Petaling. The estimated
demands for each of the publishers are as follows:

Publisher Demand (per month)

Bangi 120
Serdang 230
Kepong 240
Petaling 160

The estimated transportation costs (RM) of one ton of paper for the various routes are:

To
From Bangi Serdang Kepong Petaling
X 15 20 16 21
Y 25 13 5 11
Z 15 15 7 17

a) Is the transportation problem above balance? Why?

b) Determine the optimal solution that will minimize total cost. What is the minimum total cost?
c) Is your optimal solution in (b) unique? Explain.