Decision Support Models – 2020/2021

Exercises handout no. 3 – Linear programming

Exercise 1

Solve the following linear programming problem using the graphical method:

a. Solve the problem graphically.

b. What is the objective function value?
c. Do both variables contribute to the solution? Why?
d. Does any constraint have a surplus value? If so, what does it mean?

Exercise 2

Bona Fide Co. is a company that intends to produce and pack complete food doses for pets,
which satisfy their daily needs (70 units of proteins, 100 units of carbohydrates and 20 units
of lipids), using six ingredients with the characteristics presented in the table below:

Characteristics
Proteins Carbohydrates Lipids Cost
Ingredient
(units/kg) (units/kg) (units/kg) (€/kg)

A 20 50 4 2
B 30 30 9 3
C 40 20 11 5
D 40 25 10 6
E 45 50 9 8
F 30 20 10 8

Formulate a linear programming problem that allows finding the quantities of the various
ingredients that should be used to produce the food doses at minimum cost.

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Exercise 3

A refinery produces six types of products (Regular Gasoline, Extra Gasoline, and Unleaded
Gasoline, Diesel, Oil for Heating and Lubricant Oil), by mixing five types of raw oil (A, B, C, D
and E). The table below shows the compositions, costs and monthly availabilities of the raw
oils and the monthly demand of each refined product:

Raw oil Demand

(thousands
Refined product A B C D E
of gallons)
Regular Gasoline 40% 30% 30% 20% 30% 5 000
Extra Gasoline 20% 30% 40% 30% 20% 3 000
Unleaded Gasoline 20% 10% – 30% 10% 3 000
Diesel 10% 10% 10% – 20% 2 000
Heating Oil – 10% 10% 20% 10% 1 000
Lubricant oil 10% 10% 10% – 10% 2 000
Cost (€/gallon) 0.20 0.14 0.15 0.18 0.12
Availability
8 000 4 000 5 000 3 000 6 000
(thousands of gallons)

Formulate this problem as a linear programming problem to determine the quantities of

the various types of raw oil to buy in order to satisfy the demand and to minimize the
production costs.

Exercise 4

At the Lisbon Airport, the Airtransports Co. needs to have a variable number of workers on
service depending on the work period. The minimal requirements per work period are the
following:

Work period Need of workers

00:00 – 04:00 75
04:00 – 08:00 250
08:00 – 12:00 300
12:00 – 16:00 50
16:00 – 20:00 350
20:00 – 24:00 150

A worker must present herself/himself to work at the beginning of one of the work periods
above referred and stay working eight consecutive hours. Formulate a linear programming
problem that minimizes the number of personnel and satisfies the needs of workers during
all day.

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Exercise 5

A hospital is evaluating the feasibility of offerings among three technologies, based on what would
make the most profit. These new technologies are:

1. Closed - chest cardiac bypass surgery with “daVinci Surgical Robot”

2. Gamma knife
3. Positron emission tomography (PET) scanner

Given the information on profit (see table below), the amount of common resources used by each
of the three technologies per case, and their available resources per month:

a) Formulate this as a linear programming problem.

b) Solve the problem using Excel solver.
c) Based on the optimal solution, which product(s) should be offered, and how many procedures
can be offered in a month?
d) What is the expected contribution of new technology to the hospital’s monthly profits?

Exercise 6
A regional laboratory that performs nontraditional tests is planning to offer new diagnostic tests for
regional hospitals. Current analyzers and staff can perform these tests. The laboratory manager
assessed the required staff and analyzer times, as well as the chemical materials required for a
bundle of 50 vials for each type of test listed in the table below.

a) Formulate this as a linear programming problem.

b) Solve the problem using Excel solver.
c) Which test(s) should be offered and what is(are) the optimal volume(s)?
d) What is the total profit?
e) Which resources should be increased to improve the profit? How much should the laboratory
pay for each additional resource?
f) How much additional revenue can be expected if the resources in f) are increased? If the
laboratory could only increase one, which one would be the best?
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