CH1 Transportation Problems
CH1 Transportation Problems
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Assignment, &
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Transshipment ub
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Problems
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Soniaco Rebai
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Tunisian Business School
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Introduction
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In this chapter we discuss three special types of LP
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problems ou
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Transportation problems tbs
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Assignment problems ou
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Transshipment problems s.w
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These problems are special cases co of an LP problem.
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While each of these problems can beresolved by the
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simplex algorithm, there are specialized algorithms ce for
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each type of problem that are much more efficient than
the simplex algorithm. 2
Transportation
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Formulating Transportation
ou Problems
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Example 1 tbs
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A company has three electricurpower
ce plants that supply
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the power needs of four cities. The ix. supply of each
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plant, the demand of each city, andtb the cost of
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transportation of a unit from each plant to each so city are
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given in the following table. Formulate an LP s to
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Xij : number of million
o y kwh produced at plant i and sent to city j.
ou
Min Total cost of shipping by power
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Min Z = 8X11 + 6X12 + 10X13 +so9X14 + 9X21 + 12X22 + 13X23 +
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7X24 + 14X31 + 9X32 + 16X33 s.w+ 5X34
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Supply constraints m/
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X11 + X12 + X13 + X14 ≤ 35 re
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X21 + X22 + X23 + X24 ≤ 50 ce
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X31 + X32 + X33 + X34 ≤ 40
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Demand constraints
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X11 + X21 + bXy31 ≥ 45
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X12 + X22 + X32 ≥ 20 so
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X13 + X23 + X33 ≥ 30 s.w
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X14 + X24 + X34 ≥ 30 m/
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All the Xij’s must be nonnegative. so
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Xij ≥ 0 (i = 1, 2, 3; j = 1, 2, 3, 4) s
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General Description
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In general a transportation problem is concerned with
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re a single product from several
specifying how to distribute
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sources to several destinations ceat minimum cost.
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1. A set of m supply points from which ix. a good is shipped.
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Each can supply at most si units. i = 1,tb2, …, m.
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2. A set of n demand points to which the good so is shipped.
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Each must receive at least dj units. j = 1, 2, …,sn.
3. Each unit produced at i and shipped to j incurs a cost cij.
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Transportation
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m Sources n Destinations
by C11: X11
a1 tbs b1
re
so Demand
Supply
a2
u rce
b2
required by
Capacity s.w destination n
from source m ix.
am co bn
Cmn: Xmn m/
tbs
re Number of
Cost to send so
a unit from m ur units to send
to n cfrom n to m
es
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Transportation
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ou
by
tbs
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Note that the previous transportation problem is balanced.
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City 1 tbs 2
City City 3 City 4
Supply
re (Million kwh)
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Plant 1 8 6 ce 10 9 35
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Plant 2 9 12 13 com 7 50
/tb
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Plant 3 14 9 16 5 so 40
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Demand s
45 20 30 30 125
(Million kwh)
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Note that the previous transportation problem is balanced.
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City 1 tbs 2
City City 3 City 4
Supply
re (Million kwh)
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Plant 1 8 6 ce 10 9 35
s.w
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Plant 2 9 12 13 com 7 50
/tb
sre
Plant 3 14 9 16 5 so 40
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Demand s
45 20 30 30 125
(Million kwh)
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Note that it tois relatively easier to solve a balanced
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u b than a unbalanced one.
transportation problemyt
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For this reason, it is desirable to formulate a transportation
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problem as a balanced one. ces
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Balancing a Transportation Problem co
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If total supply exceeds total demand, we re can balance a
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transportation problem by creating a dummy udemand rce point
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having a demand equal to the amount of excess supply.
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Since shipments o y to the dummy demand point are not real,
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they are assigned a cost tbs of zero. Shipments to the dummy
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point indicate unused supply capacity.ce
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Example 2 m/
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Suppose that in the previous example, the demand ur
ce for city 1
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were reduced to 40 million kwh.
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City 1 bCity
Supply
y 2 tbs
City 3 City 4
(Million kwh)
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Plant 1 8 6 so 10 9 35
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Plant 2 9 12 13 s.w 7 50 125
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Plant 3 14 9 16 5co 40
m/
tbs
Demand re
(Million kwh)
40 20 30 30 so
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120
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To balance thisdproblem
to we would add a dummy demand point
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(Dummy City 5) withoua demand of 125-120 = 5 million kwh.
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so 3 City 4 Dummy Supply
City 1 City 2 City ur
ce City 5 (Million kwh)
Plant 1 8 6 10
s.w9 0 35
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Plant 2 9 12 13 7 com 0 50
/tb
Plant 3 14 9 16 5 s0re 40
so
Demand ur
(Million kwh)
40 20 30 30 5 ce 125
s
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If total supplyd tis
o yless than total demand, the problem has no
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feasible solution. For by example, if plant 1 had only 30 million
tbs
kwh of capacity, then a rtotal es of only 120 million kwh would
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be available, which would be rce insufficient to meet the total
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demand of 125 million kwh. co
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It is sometimes desirable to allow the tpossibility bs
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some demand unmet. In such situation a penalty ur is often
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associated with unmet demand.
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Example 3 d to
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Two reservoirs are available to supply the water needs of three
y tbs supply up to 50 million gallons of
cities. Each reservoir can
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water per day. Each city wouldso like to receive 40 million gallons
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per day. The penalties are $20 at scity
.w 1, $22 at city 2, and $23
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at city 3, the transport costs are given co below. Formulate a
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balanced transportation problem that can tbe bs used to minimize
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the sum of shortage and transport costs. so
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City 1 City 2 City 3 s
Reservoir 1 7 8 10
Reservoir 2 9 7 8 18
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Transportation
d Tableau
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It is not necessary yo to explicitly build the LP model of a
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transportation problem.y Instead, we usually represent the
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transportation problem using re a transportation tableau
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Destinations
Dest. 1 Dest. 2
c e
Dest. s 3 Dest. 4 Supply
Number of available
Decision
Variable C11 C12
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C13 ix C14
units to ship from
source 1 (i)
Point 1 X11 X12 X13 X.14
co s 1
mC/
Sources
Point 2 X21
C21
X22
C22
X23
C23
X24 tbs s2
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Cost for sending
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a unit from 2 (i)
s3 ur
C31 C32 C33 C34 to 4 (j)
Point 3 X31 X32 X33 X34
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Demand d1 d2 d3 d4 s
Number of units
required in
destination 1 (j) 19
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Example 4 d to
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A company must determine for a given product the quantity to
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manufacture during eachtbsof the next four quarters. Demand is
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as follows: 40, 60, 75 and so 25 units respectively. At the
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beginning of the first quarter, the company has an inventory of
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10 units. During each quarter, the company co can produce up to
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40 units at a cost $400 per unit. By having tbs employees work
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overtime during a quarter, the company can produce so additional
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units at a cost of $450 per unit. At the end of each s
holding cost of $20 per unit is incurred. Formulate a balanced
transportation problem to minimize the total cost. 20
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Solution dt
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Supply points: ou
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Point 1: Initial inventorybst s = 10
re 1
so (RT) production s = 40
Point 2: Quarter 1 regular-time
ur 2
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Point 3: Quarter 1 overtime (OT) sproduction
.w s3 = 150
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Point 4: Quarter 2 RT production co s4 = 40
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Point 5: Quarter 2 OT production tbs s5 = 150
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Point 6: Quarter 3 RT production so s6 = 40
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Point 7: Quarter 3 OT production s7ce=s150
Point 8: Quarter 4 RT production s8 = 40
Point 9: Quarter 4 OT production s9 = 150 21
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Since total demand o y = 200 units at most 200–10 = 190 units
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will be produced duringtbanysre quarter.
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Since 40 units must be produced s.w on RT before any units
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are produced on OT, OT production during m/ any quarter will
tbs
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so
never exceed 190-40 = 150 units. ur
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s
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Demand points:dt
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Point 1: Quartero1u demand d1 = 40
by
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Point 2: Quarter 2 demand d2 = 60
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Point 3: Quarter 3 demand so
ur d3 = 75
ce
Point 4: Quarter 4 demand s.dw4 = 25
ix.
Since total supply = 770 and total demand co
m/ = 200 units, we
tbs
must add a dummy demand point of 770 – r200 es = 570 units
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to balance the problem. The cost of shipping raceunit s from
any supply point to the dummy demand point is 0.
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Point 5: Dummy demand d5 = 770-200 = 570
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C13 correspond d t to a shipment from quarter 1 RT to quarter
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3 demand. A such shipmentby means producing 1 unit on RT
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during quarter 1 that is used re to meet 1 unit of quarter 3’s
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demand. Thus C13 = 400 + 2*20ce=s 440
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To ensure that no units are used toixmeet .co demand during a
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quarter prior to their production, a cost tbs of M (a large
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positive number) is assigned to any cell that corresponds ur to
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an earlier quarter. For instance, C41 = M.
The transportation tableau is as follows: 24
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Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Quarter 4 Supply
o0 y 20 40 60 0
Point 1 ou 10
by420
Point 2
400
tbs 440 460 0
40
re 490
450 470 so 510 0
Point 3
ur 150
420 e
c
Point 4
M 400
s.w440 0
40
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Point 5
M 450 470 490
co 0
150
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Point 6
M M 400 420 tb0 s 40
r
0 es
Point 7
M M 450 470
ou
150
rce
Point 8
M M M 400 0
40 s
M M M 450 0
Point 9 150
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o yFeasible Solutions
Finding Basic o ub
There are many waysy tbto find a feasible solution. We will
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discuss three methods thatscan
ou be used to find a BFS for a
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balanced transportation problem.s.wi
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om
Northwest Corner Rule (NWCM) /tb
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Minimum Cost Method (MCM)
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Vogel’s Method (VM)
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Northwest Corner Rule (NWC)
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We begin in theu bNorthwest
yt (upper-left) corner of the
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matrix and assign as remuch as we can (considering
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supply and demand) and updateur remaining supply and
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demand. ix.
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We move either down or to the right m/ (depending on
tbs
whether supply or demand has been redepleted). so We
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again assign as much as possible and continue ce to the
s
Southeast (lower-right).
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We illustrate the d t use of the NWCM by finding a BFS for the
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first balanced transportation by problem example:
tbs
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City 2 es City 3
City 1
ou City 4 Supply
Plant 1
8 6 rce10 9
35 X
35 s.w
9 12 13 ix
Plant 2 10 20 20 .co 7 50 40 20 X
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14 9 16 5tb
Plant 3 10 30 sre40 30
so
Demand 45 20 30 30 ur
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10 X 10 s
X X
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We have nowdobtainedto the BFS
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x11=35, x21=10, x22=20, u b x23=20, x33=10 et x34=30.
yt
TC = 35*8 +10*9 + 20*12bs+r 20*13 + 10*16 +30*5 = 1180
es
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City 1 City 2 City 3s
.w City 4 Supply
8 6 10 ix 9
Plant 1 35 . co 35
m/7
Plant 2 10
9
20
12
20
13 tbs 50
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so
40 ur
14 9 16 30 5
Plant 3 10
ce
Demand 45 20 30 30 s
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d t Method (MCM)
Minimum Costo yo
Note that the NWCM u b is simple but ineffective. Indeed,
yt
this method do not look bs at the costs! Thus it can yield an
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so high shipping cost. Then
initial BFS that has a very ur
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determining an optimal solution s.w may require many
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iterations. co
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The MCM examines the costs to build tan bs initial solution.
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The cell with the lowest cost is chosen, and we ur assign as
ce
many units as possible to the cell (considerings supply
and demand).
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We then dreduce
to supplies and demands by the
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u b out ineligible cells (those in rows
assignment and mark yt
bs
or columns where theressupply or demand has been
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depleted). We repeat this processs.w until all supplies and
ix.
demands are depleted. co
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t
We move either down or to the rightbsr(depending
es on
ou
whether supply or demand has been depleted). rce We
s
again assign as much as possible and continue to the
Southeast (lower-right). 32
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Vogel’s Method
dt
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(VM)
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This method recognizes
ub that it may be wise to make a
small sacrifice for ay tbigger
bs gain. It computes a penalty
for each row and column re if the lowest cost cell is not
so
selected. That is, it figures uout
rce what it would cost to take
the second best cost. s.w
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The penalty is the cost differencecobetween m/ the lowest
cost cell and next lowest cost value tin bs each row and
re
column. so
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We select the cell associated with the largest cpenalty es to
assign units to, and proceed essentially like the MCM.
We will have to recalculate some of the penalties on
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each iteration.
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Step 1: Determine the difference between the lowest
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two cells in all rowsou and columns, including dummies.
by
tbs
Step 2: Identify the row re or column with the largest
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difference. ce
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Step 3: Allocate as much as possible co to the lowest-
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cost cell in the row or column with re the highest
so
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difference. ce
s
Step 4: Stop the process if all row and column
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requirements are met. If not, go to the next step.
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Step 5: Recalculate the differences between the two
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lowest cells remaining by in all rows and columns. Any
tbs
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row and column with zero so supply or demand should
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not be used in calculating further s.w differences. Then go
ix.
to Step 2. co
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tbs
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Tutorial dt
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Find a starting BFSouusing
by NWCM, MCM and VM for each of
the following models: tbs
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(a) so(b) (c)
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6s 7
0 2 1 6 1 2
.w 5 1 8 12
ix.
2 1 5 7 0 4 2 12
co 2 4 0 14
2 4 3 7 3 1 5 11 m/
tbs 3 6 7 4
5 5 10 10 10 10 re9 10 11
so
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s
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Before discussing o y further resolution steps, let us introduce
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the following definition:by
tbs
Definition re
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An ordered sequence of at least ce four different cells is called
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a loop if ix.
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1. Any two consecutive cells lie in eithertbsthe same row or
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same column so
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2. No three consecutive cells lie in the sames row or
column
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3. The last cellto in the sequence has a row or column in
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common with the u bfirst cell in the sequence.
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Illustration re
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