Operations Research

 Operations Research may be described as a

scientific approach to decision making that
involves the operations of organizational
systems.
Linear Programming Problems
(LPP)
 LPP in general are concerned with the allocation
of resources such as labour, materials, machinery,
capital etc in the best possible manner, so that
costs are minimized or profits are maximized.
 LP is a mathematical technique for finding the
optimal use for an organization’s scarce
resources.
 The LP model includes 3 basic elements:

 Decision variables that we seek to

determine.

 Objective (goal) that we seek to optimize.

 Constraints that we need to satisfy.

  A simple LP problem may look like this:

Objective function
Maximize F = 2X + 4Y
subject to:
X+Y≤5
Constraints Quantity of
2X - 3Y ≤ 10 resources
X,Y ≥ 0

Decision variables
Example 1:

 A home decorator manufactures two types of

lamps, A and B. Both lamps go through two

technicians, first a cutter and then a finisher. A

lamp of type A requires 2 hours of the cutter’s

time and 1 hour of the finisher’s time. A lamp of

type B requires 1 hour of the cutter’s time and 2

hours of the finisher’s time.

 The cutter has 104 hours and the finisher has 76
hours of available time each month. The profit on
type A lamp is Rs 60/= and on type B is Rs 110/=.
How many lamps of type A and B should be
manufactured so as to maximize the profit?
Formulate the problem. Assume that the
manufacturer can sell all the lamps he
manufactures.
 Type of Time reqd. Time reqd. Available
work for type A for type B time

Cutting 2 1 104

Finishing 1 2 76

Profit/unit Rs60/= Rs110/=

Maximize Z = 60X +110Y

Subject to:

2X + Y ≤ 104

X + 2Y ≤ 76

X,Y ≥ 0.

X  No. of lamps of type A.

Y  No. of lamps of type B.

Example 2:

 A company sells two different products, A and B.

The company makes a profit of Rs40/= and

Rs30/= per unit on product A and B respectively.

The products are produced in a common

production process and sold in two different

markets. The production has a capacity of 30,000

man hours per month.

 It takes 3 hours to produce one unit of A and 1

hour to produce one unit of B. A market survey

revealed that only a maximum of 8,000 units of A

and 12,000 units of B can be sold per month.

How many units of product A and B should be

manufactured so as to maximize the profit?

Formulate the problem.

Maximize Z = 40X + 30Y

Subject to:

3X + Y ≤ 30,000

X ≤ 8,000

Y ≤ 12,000

X,Y ≥ 0.

X  No. of units of product A.

Y  No. of units of product B.

Example 3:

 A person requires a minimum of 10, 12 and 12

units of chemicals A, B and C respectively for his

garden. A liquid product contains 5, 2 and 1 units

of A,B and C respectively in a jar. A dry product

contains 1, 2 and 4 units of A, B and C

respectively per carton.

 If the liquid product sells at Rs 300/= per jar and

the dry product sells at Rs 200/= per carton. How

much of each should be purchased to minimize

the cost and to meet the requirements? Formulate

the problem.
 Type of Chemicals Chemicals Minimum
chemical reqd/unit of reqd/unit of requirement
liquid prod. dry prod. of chemicals

A 5 1 10

B 2 2 12

C 1 4 12

Cost Rs 300/= Rs 200/=

Minimize Z = 300X + 200Y

Subject to:

5X + Y ≥ 10

2X + 2Y ≥ 12

X + 4Y ≥ 12

X,Y ≥ 0.

X  No. of jars of liquid product.

Y  No. of cartons of dry product.

Graphical Method
 Graphical Method can be used to solve a

Linear Programming Problem with two

decision variables.
Example 1:

Maximize Z = 3X + 5Y

Subject to:

X ≤4

2Y ≤ 12
X =4
3X + 2Y ≤ 18
Y=6
X,Y ≥ 0.
3X + 2Y = 18
12

10
3X X=4
+2
Y=
8 18 (2,6)
Y=6
6

0
0 2 4 6 8
Example 2:

 “Bright Paints” produces interior and exterior

paints from two raw materials M1 and M2. the

following table provides the basic data of the

problem.
 Tons of raw materials per Max daily
ton. availability
Exterior Interior (tons)
Paints Paints

M1 6 4 24
M2 1 2 6
Profit per ton 5 4
(Rs 1000)
 A market survey restricts the maximum daily

demand of interior paint to 2 tons. Also the daily

demand for interior paint cannot exceed that of

exterior paint by more than 1 ton. The company

wants to determine the optimum product mix of

exterior and interior paints that maximizes the

total daily profit.

X  tons produced of exterior paints

Y  tons produced of interior paints

Maximize Z = 5X + 4Y

Subject to:

6X + 4Y ≤ 24

X + 2Y ≤ 6

-X + Y ≤ 1

Y≤2 X,Y ≥ 0.
 7

6
3X +2Y=12
-X +Y=1
5

3 (3,1.5)
Y=2
2

1 X +2Y=6

0
-2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Example 3:

 “New life” farm daily uses at least 800kg of

special feed. The special feed is a mixture of corn

and soybean with the following quantities.

 Kg per kg of feed Cost
Protein Fiber (Rs/kg)

Corn 0.09 0.02 30

Soybean 0.6 0.06 90

 The dietary requirements of the feed mix stipulates at

least 30% protein and at most 5% fiber. Find the

optimum solution.
Min Z = 30X + 90Y
Subject to:
X + Y ≥ 800
0.09X + 0.6Y ≥ (X +Y)0.3
0.02X +0.06Y ≤ (X +Y)0.05
X,Y ≥ 0
X No. of kgs of Corn
Y  No. of kgs. of Soybean
Min Z = 30X + 90Y Min Z = 30X + 90Y
Subject to: Subject to:
X + Y ≥ 800 X + Y ≥ 800
0.21X – 0.3Y ≤ 0 7X – 10Y ≤ 0
0.03X – 0.01Y ≥ 0 3X – Y ≥ 0
X,Y ≥ 0 X,Y ≥ 0
1000
3X-Y=0
900

800
7X-10Y=0
700

600

500

400

300

200

100
X+Y=800
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Home Work

Question 1:

Maximize Z = 2000X + 300Y

Subject to:

400X + 600Y ≤ 6000

400X + 200Y ≤ 4000

X,Y ≥ 0.
Question 2: Question 3:

Maximize Z = X + 2Y Minimize Z = -4X + 6Y

Subject to: Subject to:

X+Y ≤5 -X + 6Y ≥ 24

X - 2Y ≤ 2 2X - Y ≤ 7

X,Y ≥ 0. X + 8Y ≤ 80

X,Y ≥ 0.
 Unbounded Solution
 In some LP models, the values of the variables maybe

increased indefinitely without violating any of the

constraints. Ie. the solution space is unbounded in at

least one direction. As a result the objective function

value may increase (in a maximization problem) or

decrease (in a minimization problem) indefinitely.

Example:

Maximize Z = 2X + 3Y

Subject to:

-2X + Y ≤ 1

X - 2Y ≤ 3

X+Y ≥2

X,Y ≥ 0.
 8
Unbounded
7
Solution
6

0
-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
-1

-2

-3