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Assignment 1 - Solution

The document outlines an operations research assignment to optimize production levels of different colored pencils. It defines notation, parameters and decision variables for a linear program model. It then provides the model constraints and objective function. Several questions are presented that involve running the model under different conditions and analyzing the optimal solutions and dual values.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
17 views3 pages

Assignment 1 - Solution

The document outlines an operations research assignment to optimize production levels of different colored pencils. It defines notation, parameters and decision variables for a linear program model. It then provides the model constraints and objective function. Several questions are presented that involve running the model under different conditions and analyzing the optimal solutions and dual values.

Uploaded by

user1234455
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Assignment 1

Indu 323 Operations Research 1


Winter 2024

1. Notations
First of all, let us define the notations that we will be using to code the models and
answer all the questions (see Table 1).

Table 1: Notations
Notation Description
Parameters

t1r : Processing time in machine 1 for red pencil


t1b : Processing time in machine 1 for blue pencil
t1w : Processing time in machine 1 for white pencil

t2r : Processing time in machine 2 for red pencil


t2b : Processing time in machine 2 for blue pencil
t2w : Processing time in machine 2 for white pencil

pr : Profit per unit for red pencil


pb : Profit per unit for blue pencil
pw : Profit per unit for white pencil

q1 : Time capacity for machine 1


q2 : Time capacity for machine 2

k1 : Capacity to process white pencils in machine 1


k2 : Capacity to process white pencils in machine 2

h : Total time of operation per day

Decision variables
xr : Number of red pencils to produce
xb : Number of blue pencils to produce
xw : Number of white pencils to produce

Then, we can define our mathematical model as follows:

max pr xr + pb xb + pw xw (1)

1
s.t.
t1r xr + t1b xb + t1w xw ≤ q1 (2)
t2r xr + t2b xb + t2w xw ≤ q2 (3)
(t1r xr + t1b xb + t1w xw ) + (t2r xr + t2b xb + t2w xw ) ≤ h (4)
xw ≤ k1 (5)
xw ≤ k2 (6)
xr , xb , xw ≥ 0 (7)

The objective function (eq. 1) corresponds to the sum of the profit per type of pencil.
Constraints 2 and 3 represent the time capacity for machines 1 and 2, respectively. Con-
straint 4 helps us comply with the maximum time that the plant can operate1 . Constraints
5 and 6 indicate the maximum number of pencils that the machines can handle per day.
Finally, constraint 7 is the non-negativity constraint.
Note that processing times for pencils are given in seconds while time capacities for the
machines are in hours. Hence, before coding this model, we need to convert all the
parameters to the same units.
2. Question 1 (25/100)
Please, refer the the notebook Assignment1 INDU323 sol.ipynb and in particular the
section Question 1.
The optimal solution is (rounding up to 2 decimals):
• Profit = 551.54$
• xr = 69.23
• xb = 0
• xw = 150
3. Question 2 (25/100)
Please, refer to section Question 2.
To answer this question, we need to run the same model as in Question 1 but setting
pb = 1.43
The optimal solution is (rounding up to 2 decimals):
• Profit = 563.00$
• xr = 0.00
• xb = 100.00
• xw = 150.00
4. Question 3 (25/100)
Please, refer to section Question 3 in the notebook.
To answer this question, we need to run the same model as in Question 1. Please note
that we used minutes to normalize the time units. If you used hours, the results will be
different, but equivalent.
For the optimal solution, please go to section 2 (it is the same model). Now, the duals
are as follow (rounding up to 2 decimals):
1
Here is where you need the assumption that process 2 cannot start until all pencils have finished process in
machine 1.

2
• Time cap. for machine 1 = 0.00
• Time cap. for machine 2 = 0.00
• Total opening time = 0.73
• White pencils cap. for machine 1 = 1.05
• White pencils cap. for machine 2 = 0.00

First of all, remember that we have one dual variable per constraint (without the non-
negativiy constraints). The meaning of the results are:

• Time cap. for machine 1: You can increase the time capacity for machine 1 as much
as you want, but your profit will not be increased.
• Time cap. for machine 2 : The same comment.
• Total opening time : For every additional minute (or hour, depending on how did
you set the units) of operation in the plant, the profit will increase by 0.73$.
• White pencils cap. for machine 1 : For every unit increase in white pencils produced
by machine 1, the profit will increase by 1.05$.
• White pencils cap. for machine 2 : You can increase the capacity for machine 2, but
the profit will not change.

Extra marks (3 options, +3 each. If different but still good answers were provided, extra
marks might be given, up to +10 in total):

• (x2) Time cap. for machines 1 and 2 = 0.00: Note that if you sum equations 2 and
3, you will have (t1r xr + t1b xb + t1w xw ) + (t2r xr + t2b xb + t2w xw ) ≤ q1 + q2 but, at the
same time, you can see that h ≤ q1 + q2 . This implies that constraint 4 is actually
limiting the problem, while 2 and 3 are not doing anything. That is why the dual
variable is 0.
• Since k1 ≤ k2 , and constraints 6 and 7 are almost the same except for the right-
hand-side, constraint 7 is actually not limiting the variable.

5. Question 4 (25/100)
There are two ways to answer this question.

(a) Solve a problem similar to the one in question 2, adding the parameters:
t1g = 0.7, t2g = 1.2, pg = 0.4 and the decision variable xg . Then, modify the objective
function and the constraints to incorporate this new information.
You should see that the solution is exactly the same as the one in Question 1 (see
2). So, since the optimal solution is the same as before considering green pencils, it
is not a good idea to include them in the company’s production.
(b) Calculate the cost of opportunity. To make one green pencil you should increase
the time capacity of machine 1 by 0.7 min, the one for machine 2 by 1.2 min, and
the opening time by 0.7+1.2=1.9 min. If you use that extra capacity to make one
green pencil, your profit will be increased in pr = 0.4$.
Instead, if you decide to use the extra capacity to keep making red, blue and white
pencils, the profit will be increased by 1.9∗0.73 = 1.39. Why? As we saw, increasing
both machines capacities has an impact of 0$ in the profit, while for the total opening
hours, the profit is increased by 0.73$ per minute of additional capacity.
Finally, since 0.4 ≤ 1.39, it is not a good idea to make green pencils.

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