Examples on Linear Programming Problems

(Solve using simplex method and verify your solution using Lingo or QM for Windows)

Example 1: The Apex Television Company

The Apex Television Company has to decide on the number of 60- and 42-inch sets to be produced
at one of its factories. Market research indicates that at most 40 of the 60-inch sets and 10 of the
42-inch sets can be sold per month. The maximum number of workhours available is 500 per
month. A 60-inch set requires 20 work-hours and a 42-inch set requires 10 work-hours. Each 60-
inch set sold produces a profit of $120 and each 42-inch set produces a profit of $80. A wholesaler
has agreed to purchase all the television sets produced if the numbers do not exceed the maxima
indicated by the market research. Formulate a linear programming model for this problem.

Solution: The decisions that need to be made are the number of 60-inch and 42-inch TV sets to
be produced per month by the Apex Television Company. Therefore, the decision variables for
the model are

x1 = number of 60-inch TV sets to be produced per month,

x2 = number of 42-inch TV sets to be produced per month.
Also let, Z = total profit per month. The model now can be formulated in terms of these variables
as follows.
The total profit per month is Z = 120 x1 + 80 x2.
The resource constraints are:
(1) Number of 60-inch sets sold per month: x1 ≤ 40
(2) Number of 42-inch sets sold per month: x2 ≤ 10
(3) Work-hours availability: 20 x1 + 10 x2 ≤ 500.
Nonnegativity constraints on TV sets produced: x1 ≥ 0, x2 ≥ 0.
With the objective of maximizing the total profit per month, the LP model for this problem is
Maximize Z = 120 x1 + 80 x2,
subject to
x1 ≤40
x2 ≤ 10
20 x1 + 10 x2 ≤ 500
x1 ≥ 0, x2 ≥ 0.

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Example 2: Montana Wood Products
Montana Wood Products manufacturers two-high quality products, tables and chairs. Its profit is
$15 per chair and $21 per table. Weekly production is constrained by available labor and wood.
Each chair requires 4 labor hours and 8 board feet of wood while each table requires 3 labor hours
and 12 board feet of wood. Available wood is 2400 board feet and available labor is 920 hours.
Management also requires at least 40 tables and at least 4 chairs be produced for every table
produced. To maximize profits, how many chairs and tables should be produced?

Solution:
x1: # chairs to be manufactured

x2: # tables to be manufactured

Max Z = 15x1 + 21x2

Subject to

4x1 + 3x2 < 920 ( labor constraint)

8x1 + 12x2 < 2400 ( wood constraint)

x2 - 40 > 0 (make at least 40 tables)

x1 - 4 x2 > 0 (at least 4 chairs for every table)

x1 , x2 > 0 (non-negativity constraints)

Example 3: The Sureset Concrete Company

The Sureset Concrete Company produces concrete. Two ingredients in concrete are sand (costs $6
per ton) and gravel (costs $8 per ton). Sand and gravel together must make up exactly 75% of the
weight of the concrete. Also, no more than 40% of the concrete can be sand and at least 30% of
the concrete be gravel. Each day 2000 tons of concrete are produced. To minimize costs, how
many tons of sand and gravel should be purchased each day?

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Solution:
x1: # tons of sand to be purchased each day
x2: # tons of sand to be purchased each day
Min Z = 6x1 + 8x2
subject to
x1 + x2 = 75% of 2000 = 1500 ( mix constraint)
x1 < 40 % of 2000 = 800 (sand)
x2 > 30 % of 2000 = 600 (gravel)
x1, x2 > 0 (non-negativity)

Example 4: Galaxy Ind.

Galaxy Ind. produces two water guns, the Space Ray and the Zapper. Galaxy earns a profit of $3
for every Space Ray and $2 for every Zapper. Space Rays and Zappers require 2 and 4 production
minutes per unit, respectively. Also, Space Rays and Zappers require 0.5 and 0.3 pounds of plastic,
respectively. Given constraints of 40 production hours, 1200 pounds of plastic, Space Ray
production can’t exceed Zapper production by more than 450 units; formulate the problem such
that Galaxy maximizes profit.

Solution:
R = # of Space Rays to be produced

Z = # of Zappers to be produced

Max Z = 3.00R + 2.00Z

subject to

2R + 4Z ≤ 2400 can’t exceed available hours (40*60)

0.5R + 0.3Z ≤ 1200 can’t exceed available plastic

R - S ≤ 450 Space Rays can’t exceed Zappers by more than 450

R, S ≥ 0 non-negativity constraint

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Example 5: Aapplesauce and apple juice
A Company purchases apples from local growers and makes applesauce and apple juice. It costs
$0.60 to produce a jar of applesauce and $0.85 to produce a bottle of apple juice. The company
has a policy that at least 30% but not more than 60% of its output must be applesauce.

The company wants to meet but not exceed demand for each product. The marketing manager
estimates that the maximum demand for applesauce is 5,000 jars, plus an additional 3 jars for each
$1 spent on advertising. Maximum demand for apple juice is estimated to be 4,000 bottles, plus an
additional 5 bottles for every $1 spent to promote apple juice. The company has $16,000 to spend
on producing and advertising applesauce and apple juice. Applesauce sells for $1.45 per jar; apple
juice sells for $1.75 per bottle. The company wants to know how many units of each to produce
and how much advertising to spend on each in order to maximize profit.

Solution: You have to solve.

Example 6: Cargo holding

A ship has two cargo holds, one fore and one aft. The fore cargo hold has a weight capacity of
70,000 pounds and a volume capacity of 30,000 cubic feet. The aft hold has a weight capacity of
90,000 pounds and a volume capacity of 40,000 cubic feet. The ship owner has contracted to carry
loads of packaged beef and grain. The total weight of the available beef is 85,000 pounds; the total
weight of the available grain is 100,000 pounds. The volume per mass of the beef is 0.2 cubic foot
per pound, and the volume per mass of grain is 0.4 cubic foot per pound. The profit for shipping
beef is $0.35 per pound, and the profit for shipping grain is $0.12 per pound. The ship owner is
free to accept all or part of the available cargo; he wants to know how much meat and grain to
accept in order to maximize profit.

Solution: You have to solve.

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 Cases on Linear Programming Model Formulation

Case 1: The Weigelt Corporation

The Weigelt Corporation has three branch plants with excess production capacity. Fortunately, the
corporation has a new product ready to begin production, and all three plants have this capability,
so some of the excess capacity can be used in this way. This product can be made in three sizes--
large, medium, and small--that yield a net unit profit of $420, $360, and $300, respectively. Plants
1, 2, and 3 have the excess capacity to produce 750, 900, and 450 units per day of this product,
respectively, regardless of the size or combination of sizes involved.

The amount of available in-process storage space also imposes a limitation on the production rates
of the new product. Plants 1, 2, and 3 have 13,000, 12,000, and 5,000 square feet, respectively, of
in-process storage space available for a day's production of this product. Each unit of the large,
medium, and small sizes produced per day requires 20, 15, and 12 square feet, respectively.

Sales forecasts indicate that if available, 900, 1,200, and 750 units of the large, medium, and small
sizes, respectively, would be sold per day. At each plant, some employees will need to be laid off
unless most of the plant’s excess production capacity can be used to produce the new product. To
avoid layoffs if possible, management has decided that the plants should use the same percentage
of their excess capacity to produce the new product.

Management wishes to know how much of each of the sizes should be produced by each of the
plants to maximize profit. Formulate a linear programming model for this problem and find the
solution.

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 Case 2: Comfortable Hands

Comfortable Hands is a company which features a product line of winter gloves for the entire
family - men, women, and children. They are trying to decide what mix of these three types of
gloves to produce. Comfortable Hands’ manufacturing labor force is unionized. Each full-time
employee works a 40-hour week. In addition, by union contract, the number of full-time employees
can never drop below 20. Nonunion, part-time workers can also be hired with the following union-
imposed restrictions: (1) each part-time worker works 20 hours per week, and (2) there must be at
least 2 full-time employees for each part-time employee.

All three types of gloves are made out of the same 100% genuine cowhide leather. Comfortable
Hands has a long term contract with a supplier of the leather, and receives a 5,000 square feet
shipment of the material each week. The material requirements and labor requirements, along with
the gross profit per glove sold (not considering labor costs) is given in the following table.

Material Required Labor Required Gross Profit

Glove (square feet) (minutes) (per pair)

Men’s 2 30 $8
Women’s 1.5 45 $10
Children’s 1 40 $6

Each full-time employee earns $13 per hour, while each part-time employee earns $10 per hour.
Management wishes to know what mix of each of the three types of gloves to produce per week,
as well as how many full-time and how many part-time workers to employ. They would like to
maximize their net profit - their gross profit from sales minus their labor costs. Formulate a linear
programming model for this problem and find the solution.

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 Case 3: Slim-Down Manufacturing

Slim-Down Manufacturing makes a line of nutritionally complete, weight-reduction beverages.

One of their products is a strawberry shake which is designed to be a complete meal. The
strawberry shake consists of several ingredients. Some information about each of these ingredients
is given below.

Calories Total Vitamin

Ingredient from fat Calories Content Thickeners Cost

(per tbsp) (per tbsp) (mg/tbsp) (mg/tbsp) (¢/tbsp)

Strawberry flavoring 1 50 20 3 10

Cream 75 100 0 8 8

Vitamin supplement 0 0 50 1 25

Artificial sweetener 0 120 0 2 15

Thickening agent 30 80 2 25 6

The nutritional requirements are as follows. The beverage must total between 380 and 420 calories
(inclusive). No more than 20% of the total calories should come from fat. There must be at least
50 milligrams (mg) of vitamin content. For taste reasons, there must be at least two tablespoons
(tbsp) of strawberry flavoring for each tbsp of artificial sweetener. Finally, to maintain proper
thickness, there must be exactly 15 mg of thickeners in the beverage.

Management would like to select the quantity of each ingredient for the beverage which would
minimize cost while meeting the above requirements. Formulate a linear programming model for
this problem and find the solution.