INTRODUCTION TO LINEAR PROGRAMMING

2.1

2.2 Production Models: Maximising Profits

An (extremely simplified) steel company must decide how to allocate next weeks time on a
rolling mill. The mill takes unfinished slabs of steel as input and can produce either of two semi-
finished products, which we will call bands and coils. (The terminology is not entirely standard;
see the bibliography at the end of the chapter for some accounts of realistic LP applications in
steelmaking.) The mills two products come off the rolling line at different rates:
Tons per hour: Bands 200, Coils 140, and they also have different profitabilities:
Profit per ton: Bands $25, Coils $30
To further complicate matters, the following weekly production amounts are the most that can be
justified in light of the currently booked orders:
Maximum tons: Bands 6,000, Coils 4,000
The question facing the company is as follows: If 40 hours of production time are available this
week, how many tons of bands and how many tons of coils should be produced to bring in the
greatest total profit?

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2.3 A confectionary company produces two sizes of its popular dark chocolate bars: a 3.5 ounce
size and a 6 ounce size. The 3.5 ounce bar costs $.22 to make and sells for $.35, whereas the 6
ounce bar cost $ 0.4 to make and sells for $ 0.55. The company has 15,000 ounces of chocolate in
stock, and the manager wants to use it all on the next production run. In addition, the manager has
specified that a minimum of 1,000 of the 3.5 ounce bars and 1,200 of the 6 ounce bars should be
made.

a. What are the decision variables in this problem.

b. What are the constraints?
c. Formulate a linear programming model that will enable the manager to determine how
many of each size bar to produce in order to satisfy the conditions specified with
maximum profit.

2.4 The Mantell Company makes softballs and baseballs. In order to make each type of ball,
leather, nylon, wood chips, and machine time and labour are needed. The requirements for each
item and the resources available are shown in the following table:
Item Softball Baseball Available

Leather 6 4 6000 ounces

Nylon 8 3 5000 yards
Wood chips 10 2 5000 ounces
Labour 3 2 3600 minutes
Machine 1 1 2000 minutes
Softballs sell for $ 17 each and baseballs sell for $ 15 each. Formulate a linear programming
model that can be used to determine the number of each type of ball to produce in order to
maximize revenue.

2.5 A dietician has been asked by the athletic director of a university to develop a snack that
athletes can use in their training programmes. The dietician intends to mix two separate products
together to make the snack. The following information has been obtained by the dietician:
Nutrient Min. Amount Contribution per Ounce (grams)
Required (grams) Product A Product B

Carbohydrates 20 2 5
Protein 12 6 1
Calories 450 90 50
Product A cost $ 0.20 per ounce and Product B costs $ 0.10 per ounce.
a. Formulate this problem as a linear programming model.
b. Determine the optimal quantities of the two products for cost minimization. What is the
cost per snack?
c. Are any requirements exceeded? If so, which ones are by how much?

Group Assignment (GA1)

Complete the tasks assigned in the class and submit the solutions (hard copy) as assignment.

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2.1
x1 = quantity of server model 1 to produce
x2 = quantity of server model 2 to produce

Maximize Z = 60x1+50x2
Subject to:

Write answer for 2.2 here.

2.3
a. The decision variables are :
i. x1 = number of 3.5 ounce chocolate bars produced.
ii. x2 = number of 6 ounce chocolate bars produced.
b. The constraints in this problem are :
i. Total amount of chocolate in stock = 15,000 ounces
ii. Minimum number of 3.5 ounce bars to be produced = 1000
iii. Minimum number of 6 ounce bars to be produced = 1200
c. Objective function :
i. Maximization of profit
For the 3.5 ounce bar
Selling Price = $ 0.35 Cost Price = $ 0.22 Profit = $ 0.13
For the 6 ounce bar
Selling Price = $ 0.55 Cost Price = $ 0.40 Profit = $ 0.15
So the objective function is
Maximize Z = 0.13 x1 + 0.15 x2
d. The constraints can be written as:
Total Amount of Chocolate 3.5 x1 + 6 x2 15,000
Minimum Quantity of 3.5 ounce bar x1 1000
Minimum Quantity of 6 ounce bars x2 1200
x1, x2 0

2.4
a. The decision variables are :
i. x1 = number of softballs to be produced.
ii. x2 = number of baseballs to be produced.
b. The constraints in this problem are :
i. Total amount of leather = 6,000 ounces
ii. Total amount of Nylon = 5000 yards
iii. Total amount of wood chips = 5000 ounces
iv. Total amount of labour = 3600 minutes
v. Total amount of machine = 2000 minutes
c. Objective function :
i. Maximization of revenue
For the softball Selling Price = $ 17

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For the baseball Selling Price = $ 15
So the objective function is
Maximize Z = 17 x1 + 15 x2
d. The constraints can be written as:
Total Amount of Leather 6 x1 + 4 x2 6,000
Total Amount of Nylon 8 x1 + 3 x2 5,000
Total Amount of Wood chips 10 x1 + 2 x2 5,000
Total Amount of Labour 3 x1 + 2 x2 3,600
Total Amount of Labour x1 + x2 2,000
x1, x2 0

2.5
a. The decision variables are :
i. x1 = grams of Product A in the snack
ii. x2 = grams of Product B in the snack
b. The constraints in this problem are :
i. Total amount of Carbohydrates should be minimum 20 grams
ii. Total amount of protein should be minimum 12 grams
iii. Total amount of calories should be minimum 450 calories.
c. Objective function :
i. Minimization of Cost
For Product A Cost = $ 0.20 per ounce
For Product B Cost = $ 0.10 per ounce
So the objective function is
Minimise Z = 0.20 x1 + 0.10 x2

d. The constraints can be written as:

Total Amount of Carbohydrates
2 x1 + 5 x2 20
Total Amount of Protein
6 x1 + 1 x2 12
Total Amount of Calories
90 x1 + 50 x2 450
x1, x2 0