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Examples of Linear Programming Applications / Department of Mathematics

Examples of Linear Programming Applications

Presented are examples of linear programming applications; the last two are very simple. In the case of a real-life application, it is necessary to extend the model to consider additional constraints of the modelled situation. Despite that, linear programming problems are quite tractable: with adequate effort, even relatively large problems (hundreds of thousands of variables and constraints) can be solved.

Transportation Problem
A company has a stock of goods allocated in m storehouses. The goods is to be delivered ton customers, each of which is requesting a certain quantity of the goods. (It is supposed that the quantity of the goods in the storehouses is sufficient to cover the customers requests.) The transportation cost of one unit of the goods from the storehouse no. i to the customer no. j is cij fori = 1, 2, , m and j = 1, 2, , n. The goal is to make up a transportation plan so that the requests of the customers are met and the total transportation costs are minimal.

Minimization of production costs

A company produces n different kinds of goods. It has received orders from customers to supply certain quantity of each kind of the goods. The company produces the goods by m activities (processes). Each of the activities no. 1, 2, , m produces all the kinds of the goods no. 1, 2, , n in a certain ratio. (For example, the distillation of crude oil yields petrol, oil, paraffin oil, asphalt, The production of iron in the blast furnace yields iron as well as slag, which can be used in building industry. And so forth.) The unit production costs of the i-th activity are ci . The goal is to make up an optimal production programme, i.e., to determine the production level of the activities, so that the orders of the customers are met and the total production costs are minimal.

Maximization of profit
A company performs n activities. It produces n kinds of goods, provides n kinds of services, and so forth. The company sells its activities (products, services). Each unit of the j-th activity sold yields a profit of cj for j = 1, 2, , n. The company needs m kinds of resources to run its activities. Each of the resources (in the given period of time) is available only in a certain amount. The goal is to make up an optimal programme of the activities so that the resources are not overdrawn and the total profit is maximized.

[Back to the article Optimization and Operational Research.]

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