Problem Sets

Transportation Problem

Problem #1 An air conditioning manufacturer produces room air conditioners at plants in Houston, Phoenix, and
Memphis. These are sent to regional distributors in Dallas, Atlanta, and Denver. 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. Dallas needs to
receive 800 air conditioners per month, Atlanta needs 600, and Denver needs 200. Houston has 850 air conditioners
available each month, Phoenix has 650, and Memphis has 300. The shipping cost per unit from Houston to Dallas is $8 o
Atlanta is $12, and to Denver is $10. The cost per unit from Phoenix to Dallas is $10, to Atlanta is $14, and to Denver is
$9.The cost per unit from Memphis to Dallas is $11, to Atlanta is $8, and to Denver is $12. How many units should be
shipped from each plant to each regional distribution center? What is the
Total Cost for this?

From/ Dallas Atlanta Denver Supply

To
Houston 8 12 10 850
Phoenix 10 14 9 650
Memphi 11 8 12 300
s
Demand 800 600 200

Problem #2 Finnish Furniture manufactures tables in facilities located in three cities—Reno, Denver, and Pitts-burgh. The
tables are then shipped to three retail stores located in Phoenix, Cleveland, and Chicago. Management wishes to
develop a distribution sched-ule that will meet the demands at the lowest possible cost. The shipping cost per unit from
each of the sources to each of the destinations is shown in the following table:

From/To PHOE CLEVELA CHICA

NIX ND GO
RENO 10 16 19
DENVER 12 14 13
PITTSBUR 18 12 12
GH

The available supplies are 120 units from, 200 from Denver, and 160 from Pittsburgh. Phoenix has a demand of 140
units, Cleveland has a demand of 160 units, and Chicago has a demand of 180 units. How many units should be shipped
from each manufacturing facility to each of the retail stores if cost is to be minimized? What is the total cost?

Problem #3 Finnish Furniture has experienced a decrease in the demand for tables in Chicago; the demand has fallen to
150 units (see Problem 2). What special condition would exist? What is the minimum cost solution? Will there be any
units remaining at any of the manufacturing facilities?

From\To Phoeni Clevelan Chicag

x d o
Reno 10 16 19
Denver 12 14 13
Pittsburg 18 12 12
h

1
The available supplies are 120 units from Reno, 200 from Denver, and 160 from Pittsburgh. Phoenix has a demand of 140
units, Cleveland has a demand of 160 units, and Chicago has a demand of 180 units.

Transshipment Problem

Problem #1 World Foods, Inc., imports food products such as meats, cheeses, and pastries to the United States from
warehouses at ports in Hamburg, Marseilles, and Liverpool. Ships from these ports deliver the products to Norfolk, New
York, and Savannah, where they are stored in company warehouses before being shipped to distribution centers in
Dallas, St. Louis, and Chicago. The products are then distributed to specialty food stores and sold through catalogs. The
shipping costs ($/1,000 lb.) from the European ports to the U.S. cities and the available supplies (1,000 lb.) at the
European ports are provided in the following table:

U.S. City
European 4. Norfolk 5. New York 6. Savannah Supply
Port
1. Hamburg $420 $390 $610 55
2. Marseilles 510 590 470 78
3. Liverpool 450 360 480 37

The transportation costs ($/1,000 lb.) from each U.S. city of the three distribution centers and the demands (1,000 lb.) at
the distribution centers are as follows:

Distribution Center
Warehouse 7. Dallas 8. St. Louis 9. Chicago
4. Norfolk $75 $63 $81
5. New York 125 110 95
6. 68 82 95
Savannah
60 45 50

Determine the optimal shipments between the European ports and the warehouses and the distribution centers to
minimize total transportation costs.

Problem #2 Walsh's Fruit Company contracts with growers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York to purchase grapes. The
grapes are processed into juice at the farms and stored in refrigerated vats. Then the juice is shipped to two plants,
where it is processed into bottled grape juice and frozen concentrate. The juice and concentrate are then transported to
three food warehouses/distribution centers. The transportation costs per ton from the farms to the plants and from the
plants to the distributors, and the supply at the farms and demand at the distribution centers are summarized in the
following tables:
  Plant  
Farm 4. Indiana 5. Georgia Supply (1,000 tons)
1. Ohio $16 21 72
2. 18 16 105
Pennsylvania
3. New York 22 25 83

2
   Distribution Center
Plant 6. Virginia 7. Kentucky 8. Louisiana
4. Indiana $23 $15 $29
5. Georgia 20 17 24
Demand (1,000 90 80 120
tons)

a. Determine the optimal shipments from farms to plants to distribution centers to minimize total transportation
costs.
b. What would be the effect on the solution if the capacity at each plant were 140,000 tons?

Problem #3 A national catalog and Internet retailer has three warehouses and three major distribution centers located
around the country. Normally, items are shipped directly from the warehouses to the distribution centers; however,
each of the distribution centers can also be used as an intermediate transshipment point. The transportation costs
($/unit) between warehouses and distribution centers, the supply at the warehouses (100 units), and the demand at the
distribution centers (100 units) for a specific week are shown in the following table:

Distribution Center
Warehouse A B C Supply
1 $12 $11 $7 70
2 8 6 14 80
3 9 10 12 50
Demand 60 100 40

The transportation costs ($/unit) between the distribution centers are

Distribution Center
Distribution Center A B C
A $ $8 $3
B 1 2
C 7 2

Assignment Problem

Problem #1 In a job shop operation, four jobs may be performed on any of four machines. The hours required for each
job on each machine are presented in the following table. The plant supervisor would like to as-sign jobs so that total
time is minimized. Find the best solution.

Machin Machin Machin Machin

eA eB eC eD
Job 1 10 14 16 13
Job 2 12 13 15 12
Job 3 9 12 12 11
Job 4 14 16 18 16

Problem #2 Roscoe Davis, chairman of a college’s business department, has decided to apply a new method in assigning
professors to courses next semester. As a criterion for judging who should teach each course, Professor Davis reviews
the past two years’ teaching evaluations (which were filled out by students). Since each of the four professors taught
each of the four courses at one time or another during the two-year period, Davis is able to record a course rating for

3
each instructor. These ratings are shown in the table. Find the best assignment of professors to courses to maximize the
overall teaching rating.

Courses
Proffeso Statisti manageme Financ Economi
rs cs nt e cs
Anderso 90 65 95 40
n
Sweene 70 60 80 75
y
Williams 85 40 80 60
Mckinne 55 80 65 55
y

Problem #3 The hospital administrator at St. Charles General must appoint head nurses to four newly established
departments: urology, cardiology, orthopedics, and obstetrics. In anticipation of this staffing problem, she had hired four
nurses: Hawkins, Condriac, Bardot, and Hoolihan. Believing in the quantitative analysis approach to problem solving, the
administrator has interviewed each nurse, considered his or her background, personality, and talents, and developed a
cost scale ranging from 0 to 100 to be used in the assignment. A 0 for Nurse Bardot being assigned to the cardiology unit
implies that she would be perfectly suited to that task. A value close to 100, on the other hand, would imply that she is
not at all suited to head that unit. The accompanying table gives the complete set of cost figures that the hospital
administrator felt represented all possible assignments. Which nurse should be assigned to which unit?

DEPARTMENT
NURSE UROLOGY CARDIOLOGY ORTHOPEDICS OBSTETRICS
Hawkins 28 18 15 75
Condriac 32 48 23 38
Bardot 51 36 24 36
Hoolihan 25 38 55 12