Transportation problems

1. A dairy firm has 3 plants located in a state. The daily milk production at each plant is as
follows:

Plant 1: 6 million litres, Plant 2: 1 million litres and Plant 3: 10 million litres

Each day, the firm must fulfill the needs of its 4 distribution centres. The minimum requirement
of each centre is as follows:

Distribution centre 1: 7 million litres, Distribution centre 2: 5 million litres

Distribution centre 3: 3 million litres, Distribution centre 4: 2 million litres

Cost (in hundreds of rupees) of shipping one million litre from each plant to each distribution
centre is given in the following table:

Distribution centre

D1 D2 D3 D4

Plant P1 2 3 11 7

P2 1 0 6 1

P3 5 8 15 9

Find the initial basic feasible solution using (a) North-west corner rule (b) Least cost method (c)
V.A.M.

Ans: (a) Rs. 11600 (b) Rs. 11200 (c) Rs. 10200

2. The following table provides all the necessary information on the availability of supply to each
warehouse, the requirement of each market and the unit transportation cost (in Rs.) from each
warehouse to each market.

Market

P Q R S Supply
A 6 3 5 4 22
 B 5 9 2 7 15
C 5 7 8 6 8
Demand 7 12 17 9 45
The shipping clerk of the shipping agency has worked out the following schedule, based on his
own experience: 12 units from A to Q, 1 unit from A to R, 8 units from A to S, 15 units from B
to R, 7 units from C to P and 1 unit from C to R.

(a) Check and see if the clerk has the optimal schedule.

(b) Find the optimal schedule and minimum total transportation cost.

Ans: (a) The total transportation cost as per the clerk’s schedule= Rs. 150

(b) Optimal transportation cost = Rs. 149

3. A company has received a contract to supply gravel to 3 new construction projects located in
towns A, B and C. The construction engineers have estimated that the required amounts of gravel
which will be needed at these construction projects are:

Project location Weekly requirement (Truckloads)

A 72

B 102

C 41

The company has 3 gravel pits located on towns X, Y and Z. The gravel required by the
construction projects can be supplied by 3 pits. The amount of gravel that can be supplied by
each pit is as follows:

Plant : X Y Z

Amount available (truckloads) : 76 82 77

The company has computed the delivery cost from each pit to each project site. These costs (in
Rs.) are shown in the following table:

Project location
 Pit A B C
X 4 8 8
Y 16 24 16
Z 8 16 24
Schedule the shipment from each pit to each project in such a way that it minimizes the total
transportation cost.

Ans: It is an unbalanced transportation problem, so we will add a dummy column, whose total is
20.

Transportation cost using V. A.M. = Rs. 2752.

Optimal transportation cost using MODI method= Rs. 2424.

4. A product is manufactured at 4 factories A, B, C and D. their unit production costs are Rs.2,
Rs.3, Re.1 and Rs. 5 respectively. Their production capacities are 50, 70, 30 and 50 units
respectively. These factories supply the product to 4 stores, demands of which are 25, 35, 105
and 20 units respectively. Unit transportation cost in rupees from each factory to each store is
given in the table below:

Stores

I II III IV
Factories A 2 4 6 11
B 10 8 7 5
C 13 3 9 12
D 4 6 8 3
Determine the extent of deliveries from each of the factories to each of the stores, so that the
total production and transportation cost is the minimum.

Ans: In each cell, the new transportation cost will be total of transportation cost and unit
production cost.

Stores
 I II III IV
Factories A 2+2=4 4+2=6 6+2=8 11+2=13
B 10+3=13 8+3=11 7+3=10 5+3=8
C 13+1=14 3+1=4 9+1=10 12+1=13
D 4+5=9 6+5=11 8+5=13 3+5=8

It is an unbalanced transportation problem, so we will add a dummy column, whose total is 15.

Transportation cost using V. A.M. = Rs. 1465.

Optimal transportation cost using MODI method= Rs. 1465.

5. A tobacco company purchases tobacco and stores in warehouses located in the following 4
cities:

Warehouse location (City): A B C D

Capacity (tons) : 90 50 80 60

The warehouses supply tobacco to cigarette companies in 3 cities that have the following
demand:

Cigarette company Demand (tons)

Bharat 120

Janata 100

Red lamp 110

The following railroad shipping costs per ton (in hundred rupees) have been determined:

Warehouse location Bharat Janata Red lamp

A 7 10 5

B 12 9 4

C 7 3 11
D 9 5 7

Because of railroad construction, shipments are temporarily prohibited from warehouse at city A
to Bharat Cigarette company.

Find the optimum distribution for XYZ tobacco company.

Ans: It is an unbalanced transportation problem, so we will add a dummy row, whose total is 50.

The cost element (7) on the route city A- Bharat company is replaced by M, since the route is
prohibited. The table is given as follows:

Bharat Janata Red lamp Supply

A M 10 5 90
B 12 9 4 50
C 7 3 11 80
D 9 5 7 60
Dummy 0 0 0 50
Demand 120 100 110 330

Using VAM, the initial transportation cost= Rs. 159000. Since all the improvement indices are
non-negative in MODI method, the optimal transportation cost= Rs. 159000.

Assignment Technique

1. A computer centre has 3 expert programmers. The centre wants 3 application programs to be
developed. The head of the computer centre, after carefully studying the programs to be
developed, estimates the computer time in minutes required by the experts for the application
programs as follows:

Programmers

A B C

Programs I 120 100 80

II 80 90 110
 III 110 140 120

Assign the programmers to the programs in such a way that the total computer time is minimum.

Ans: Program Programmer Time (in minutes)

I C 80

II B 90

III A 110

Total 280

2. A solicitor’s firm employs typists on hourly piece-rate basis for their daily work. There are 5
typists and their charges and speed are different. Only one job was given to one typist and the
typist was paid for a full hour, even if he worked for a fraction of an hour. Find the least cost
allocation for the following data:

Typist Rate per hour (Rs.) No. of pages typed/hour

A 5 12

B 6 14

C 3 8

D 4 10

E 4 11

Job No. of pages

P 199

Q 175

R 145
S 298

T 178

Ans: The time matrix can be obtained by dividing no. of pages by no. of pages typed per hour.
Then the cost matrix can be obtained by multiplying this time with the rate per hour. The
following cost matrix will be obtained.

Job

P Q R S T

Typist A 85 75 65 125 75

B 90 78 66 132 78

C 75 66 57 114 69

D 80 72 60 120 72

E 76 64 56 112 68

Optimal solution is Typist Job Cost (in Rs.)

A T 75

B R 66

C S 114

D P 80

E Q 64

Total 399
3. A company operates in 4 territories, and 4 salesmen available for an assignment. The
territories are not equally rich in their sales potential. It is estimated that a typical salesman
operating in each territory would bring in the following annual sales:

Territory : I II III IV

Annual sales (Rs.) : 126000 105000 84000 63000

The 4 salesmen also differ in their ability. It is estimated that, working under the same
conditions, their yearly sales would be proportionately as follows:

Salesmen : A B C D

Proportion: 7 5 5 4

If the criterion is maximum expected total sales, find the optimum assignment.

Ans: The sales matrix can be obtained by dividing each proportion by the sum of the proportions
21 and then multiplying with the annual sales. For example, the value in a-I position = 7/21 x
126000= 42000. The sales matrix is as follows:

Territory

I II III IV

Salesman A 42 35 28 21

B 30 25 20 15 Sales(in Rs.’000)

C 30 25 20 15

D 24 20 16 12

First convert this into a minimization problem by subtracting all the elements of the matrix from
the highest element of the matrix. We get the following matrix:

Territory

I II III IV
Salesman A 0 7 14 21

B 12 17 22 27 Sales (in Rs.’000)

C 12 17 22 27

D 18 22 26 30

Then do all the usual steps.

The 2 alternate optimal solutions are

Optimal solution I Optimal solution II

Salesman Territory Sales (Rs.’000) Salesman Territory Sales (Rs.’000)

A I 42 A I 42

B III 20 B II 25

C II 25 C III 20

D IV 12 D IV 12

Total 99 Total 99

4. An airline company has drawn up a new flight schedule that involves 5 flights. To assist in
allocating 5 pilots to the flights, it has asked them to state their preference scores by giving each
flight a number out of 10. The higher the number, the greater is the preference. A few of these
flights are unsuitable to some pilots, owing to domestic reasons. These have been marked with
‘x’.

Flight number

I II III IV V

Pilot A 8 2 x 5 4

B 10 9 2 8 4
 C 5 4 9 6 x

D 3 6 2 8 7

E 5 6 10 4 3

What should be the allocation of the pilots to flights in order to meet as many preferences as
possible?

Ans: Pilot Flight number Preference score

A 1 8

B 2 9

C 4 6

D 5 7

E 3 10

Total 40

5. A city corporation has decided to carry out road repairs on 4 main arterial roads of the city.
The government has agreed to make a special grant of Rs. 50 lakh towards the cost with a
condition that the repairs be done at the lowest cost and quickest time. If the conditions warrant,
a supplementary grant will also be considered favorably. The corporation has floated tenders
and 5 contractors have sent in their bids. In order to expedite work, one road will be awarded to
only one contractor.

Cost of repairs (Rs. in lakhs)

R1 R2 R3 R4

Contractors /Road C1 9 14 19 15

C2 7 17 20 19

C3 9 18 21 18
 C4 10 12 18 19

C5 10 15 21 16

(a) Find the best way of assigning the repair work to the contractors and the costs?

(b) If it is necessary to seek supplementary grants, what should be the amount sought?

( c) Which of the 5 contractors will be unsuccessful in his bid?

Ans: (a) Road Contractor Cost (Rs. in lakhs)

R1 C2 7

R2 C4 12

R3 C1 19

R4 C5 16

R5 C3 -

Total 54

(b) Since the total cost exceeds Rs. 50 lakh, the excess amount of Rs. 4 lakh is to be sought as
supplementary grant.

( c) Contractor C3 who has been assigned to dummy row R5 loses out in the bid.