QUANTITATIVE

TECHNIQUES
TRANSPORTATION ANALYSIS

NORTHWEST CORNER RULE

North West Corner Rule is a method for
computing a basic feasible solution of a
transportation problem, where the basic variables
are selected from the north west corner (i.e., top
left corner).
Steps
1.

2.

in North West Corner Rule:

Select the upper left-hand corner cell of the

transportation table and allocate as many units as
possible equal to the minimum between available
supply and demand, i.e. min(s1, d1).
Adjust the supply and demand numbers in the
respective rows and columns.

Steps in North West Corner Rule:

3. If the demand for the first cell is satisfied,
then move horizontally to the next cell in the
second columns.
4. If the supply for the first row is exhausted,
then move down to the first cell in the
second row.
5. If for any cell, supply equals demand,
then the next allocation can be made in cell
either in the next row or column.
6. Continue the process until all supply and
demand values are exhausted.

Example No. 1 Nort West Corner Rule

Transportation Problem

The ABC Milk Company has three plants

located throughout Metro Manila with
production capacity of 50, 75 and 25
gallons. Each day the firm must furnish its
four retail shops R1, R2, R3, R4 with at least
20, 20, 50, and 60 gallons respectively. The
transportation costs (in Rs.) are given in the
table.

Example No. 1
Plant

Retail Shop

Supply

R1

R2

R3

R4

P1

50

P2

75

P3

25

20

50

60

Deman 20
d

Example No. 1

The economic problem is to distribute the

available product to different retail shops in
such a way so that the total transportation
cost is minimum.

Solution:

Starting from the North West corner, we

allocate min (50, 20) to P1 R1, i.e. 20 units to
cell P1 R1. The demand for the first column is
satisfied.
The allocation is shown in the
following table.

Table 1
Plant

Retail Shop
R1

Supply

R2

R3

R4

50

P2

3
2

75

P3

25

20

50

60

P1

(20)

Deman 20
d

Table 2
Plant

Retail Shop
R1

P1

R2

Supply

R3

R4

50 30

P2

(20)
3
2

(20)
5
5

75

P3

25

20

50

60

Deman 20
d

10

Final Table
Plant

Retail Shop
R1

P1

R2
(20)

R3
(20)

P2

P3

Deman 20
d

R4
(10)

50

7
(40)
8

Supply

(35)

75

(25) 25
2

20

50

60

Here, number of retail shops (n) = 4 and

number of plants (m) = 3
Number of basic variables = m + n 1
=3+41=6
Initial Basic Feasible Solution:
The total transportation cost is calculated by
multiplying each Xij in an occupied cell with the
corresponding Cij and adding as follows:
20 x 3 + 20 x 5 + 10 x 7 + 40 x 8 +
35 x 2 + 25 x 2 =
670

Example 2

ABC Electronics has three factories F1, F2

and F3 with production capacity 30, 50, and
20 units per week respectively. These units
are to be shipped to four warehouses W1,
W2, W3, and W4 with requirement of 20, 40,
and 30 units per week respectively. The
transportation costs in (Rs.) per unit
between factories and warehouses are
given in the table.

Example 2
Factory

Warehouse

Supply

W1

W2

W3

W4

F1

30

F2

50

F3

20

40

30

10

Deman 20
d

Find an initial basic feasible solution of the given

transportation problem using Northwest corner rule.

Solution:
Starting from the North West corner, we
allocate 20 units to F1 W1. The demand for
the first column is completely satisfied.
Table 1
Factory
W1
F1

Warehouse
W2
W3

Supply
W4

(20) 2

30

F2

50

F3

20

40

30

10

Deman 20
d

10

Proceeding in this way, we observe that F1 W2 = 10, F2 W2 = 30, F2 W3 = 20,

F3 W3 = 10, F3 W4 = 10. An initial basic feasible solution is exhibited below.

Final Table

Factor
W1
y

Warehouse
W2
W3

F1

F2

F3

(10) 1
(20)
1
3

Supply
W4
4

30

(20) 1

50

(30)
3
2

2
(10)
5

(10) 20
9

Number of basic variables = m + n 1

=3+41=6

Initial Basic feasible solution

20 x 1 + 10 x 2 + 30 x 3 + 20 x 2 + 10 x 5 +
10 x 9
=
310