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B. V. M. Engineering College, Vallabh Vidyanagar

Mechanical Engineering Department
171901: OPERATIONS RESEARCH
Tutorial 1: LPP (Formulation only)

1. An advertising company wishes to plan its advertising strategy in three different

media – television, radio and magazine. The purpose of advertising is to reach as
large number of potential customers as possible. The following data are
available:
TV Radio Magazine
Cost of an advertising unit Rs. 30000 Rs. 20000 Rs. 25000
No. of potential customers reached 2,00,000 6,00,000 2,50,000
per unit
No. of female customers reached 1,50,000 4,00,000 1,20,000
per unit
The company wants to spend not more than Rs. 4,50,000 on advertising. The
following requirements must be met:
(i) The no. of ad units on TV and radio each should be between 5 and 12.
(ii) At least 10,00,000 exposures take place amongst female customers.
(iii) Advertising in magazines be limited to Rs. 2,50,000.
(iv) At least 5 ad units be bought in magazines.
Formulate the LP model.
2. Universal Mines operates three mines in Orissa. The ore from each mine is
separated into two grades before it is shipped. The daily production capacity of
mines, as well as their daily operating costs are as follows:
High-Grade ore Low-Grade ore Operating costs
(tons/day) (tons/day)
Mine A 4 4 20000
Mine B 6 4 22000
Mine C 1 6 18000
Company has committed itself to deliver 54 tons of high-Grade ore and 65 tons
of Low-Grade ore by the end of the week. It also has labour contracts that
guarantee employees in each mine a full day’s pay for each day or fraction of a
day if mine is open. Determine the number of days each mine should be
operated during the upcoming week if the Universal Mines is to fulfill its
commitment at minimum total cost.
3. Metal Arts produces four different metal products, each of which must be
machined, polished, and assembled. The specific time requirements (in hours)
for each product are as follows:
Product Product Product Product Available
A B C D Time 9hrs)
Machining 3 2 2 4 480
Polishing 1 1 2 3 400
Assembly 2 1 2 1 400
The unit profits on the products are Rs. 60, Rs. 40, Rs. 60, and Rs. 80,

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respectively. The firm has a contract with a distributor to provide 50 units of

product A and 100 units of any combination of products B and C each week.
Through other customers, the firm can sell each week as many units of products
A, B and C as it can produce, but only a maximum of 25 units of product D.
How many units of each product should the firm manufacture each week to meet
all contractual obligations and maximize its total profit? Assume that any
unfinished pieces can be completed the next week.
4. Three types of coal, C1, C2, and C3, are pulverized and mixed together to
produce 50 tons per hour needed to power a plant for generating electricity. The
burning of coal emits sulfur oxide (in parts per million) which must meet the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) specifications of at most 2000 parts
per million. The following table summarizes the data of the situation:
C1 C2 C3
Sulfur (ppm) 2500 1500 1600
Pulverizer capacity (ton/hr) 30 30 30
Cost per ton 3000 3500 3300
Determine the optimal mix of the coals.
5. The medical experts and dieticians tell us that it is necessary for an adult to
consume at least 75 g of protein, 85 gms of fat and 300 g of carbohydrates daily.
The following table gives the food items (which are readily available in the
market), analysis, and their respective cost.
Food value (gms per kg) Cost per
Food type Proteins Fats Carbohydrates kg
1 8.0 1.5 35.0 10
2 18.0 15.0 - 30
3 16.0 4.0 7.0 40
4 4.0 20.0 5.0 20
5 5.0 8.0 40.0 15
6 2.5 - 25.0 30
Min. daily requirements 75 85 300
Recommend the combination of food types so that the total cost of food that
satisfies the minimum requirements of balanced diet is the lowest.
6. The Five Star Refinery produces two types of unleaded petrol: Regular and
Premium, which it sells to its chain of service stations for Rs. 60 and Rs. 70 per
litre, respectively. Both types are blended from Five Star’s inventory of refined
domestic oil and refined foreign oil, and must meet the following specifications:
Maximum Maximum Maximum Minimum
vapour Octane rating demand deliveries
pressure (lt/week) (lt/week)
Regular 23 88 1,00,000 50,000
Premium 23 93 20,000 5000
The characteristics of refined oils in inventory are as follows:
vapour Octane rating Inventory Cost
pressure litres (Rs/litre)
Domestic 25 87 40,000 40
Foreign 15 98 60,000 75

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What quantities of the two oils should Five Star blend into two petrol in order to
maximize weekly profit?
7. A hiker plans to go on a camping trip. There are five items the hiker wishes to
take with him, but together they exceed the 30 kg weight limit he feels he can
carry. To assist himself in the selection process, he has assigned a value to each
item in ascending order of preference.
Item 1 2 3 4 5
Weight (kg) 26 11.5 17.5 7.5 3.5
Value 100 60 70 15 15
Which items should he take to maximize the total value without exceeding the
weight restriction?
8. A fertilizer company purchases nitrates, phosphates, potash and an inert chalk
base at a cost of Rs. 1500, Rs. 500, Rs. 1000 and Rs. 100 per ton, respectively,
and produces four fertilizers A, B, C , and D. The production cost, selling price,
and composition of the four fertilizers are given in the table below:
Produc- Selling Percent composition by weight
tion cost price Inert
Fertilizer (Rs/ton) (Rs/ton) Nitrates Phosphates Potash chalk
base
A 100 350 5 10 5 80
B 150 550 5 15 10 70
C 200 450 10 20 10 60
D 250 700 15 5 15 65
During any week, no more than 1000 tons of nitrate, 2000 tons of phosphates,
and 1500 tons of potash is available. The company is required to supply a
minimum of 5000 tons of fertilizer A and 4000 tons of fertilizer D per week to
its customers; but it is otherwise free to produce the fertilizers in any quantities
it pleases. Formulate the problem of finding the quantity of each fertilizer to be
produced by the company to maximize its profit.
9. A 24 hour supermarket has the following minimal requirements for cashiers:
Period 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time of day (24 hr clock) 3-7 7-11 11-15 15-19 19-23 23-3
Minimum no. of cashiers 7 20 14 20 10 5
Period 1 follows immediately after period 6. A cashier works eight consecutive
hours, starting at the beginning of one of the six periods. Determine a daily
employee worksheet which satisfies the requirements with the least number of
personnel.
10. A progressive university has decided to keep its library pen round the clock and
gathered that the following number of attendants are required to reshelve the
books:
Period 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time of day (24 hr clock) 0-4 4-8 8-12 12-16 16-20 20-24
Minimum no. of 4 7 8 9 14 3
attendants required

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If each attendant works eight consecutive hours per day, formulate the problem
of finding the minimum number of attendants necessary to satisfy the
requirements.
11. A manufacturer wishes to produce an alloy (blend) that is 30 percent lead, 30
percent zinc, and 40 percent tin. Suppose there are on the market 9 alloys with
the percent composition (of lead, zinc, and tin) and prices as shown in the
display below.

Alloys in the market

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Lead % 20 50 30 30 30 60 40 10 10
Zinc % 30 40 20 40 30 30 50 30 10
Tin % 50 10 50 30 40 10 10 60 80
Cost (Rs.) 730 690 730 750 760 600 580 430 410
How much of each type of alloy should be purchased in order to minimize costs
per kg of blend?
12. Four products are processed sequentially on three machines. The following table
gives the pertinent data of the problem.

Manufacturing time (hrs/piece)

Cost Product Product Product Product Capacity
Rs./hr 1 2 3 4 (hrs)
Machine 1 1000 2 3 4 2 500
Machine 2 500 3 2 1 2 380
Machine 3 400 7 3 2 1 450
Selling price
7500 7000 5500 4500
(Rs. / piece)
Formulate the problem as an LP model, and find the optimum solution.
13. A manufacturer produces three models: X, Y, and Z of a certain product using
raw materials A and B. The following table gives the data for the problem:

Requirements per unit

Raw material X Y Z Availability
A 2 3 5 4000
B 4 2 7 6000
Minimum demand 200 200 150
Profit per unit 300 200 500
The labour time per unit of model X is twice that for of Y and three times that of
Z. The entire labour force of the factory can produce the equivalent of 1500
units of model X. Market requirements specify the ratios 3:2:5 for the
production of the three respective models. Formulate the problem as a linear
program, and find the optimum solution.

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14. A small refinery blends five raw gasoline types to produce two grades of motor
fuel: regular and premium. The number of barrels per day of each raw gasoline
type available, the performance rating, and cost per barrel are given in the
following table:
Raw Gasoline Performance Barrels per day Cost per barrel
type rating (x103Rs)
1 70 2000 8
2 80 4000 9
3 85 4000 9.5
4 90 5000 11.5
5 99 5000 20
Regular motor fuel must have a performance rating of at least 85 and premium
at least 95. The refinery’s contract requires that at least 8,000 barrels/day of
premium be produced; at the same time, the refinery can sell its entire output of
both premium and regular for Rs. 3.75 x103/barrel and Rs. 2.85 x103/barrel,
respectively. Assume the performance rating of a blend is proportional, i.e., a
50–50 mixture of raw gasoline types 1 and 2 has a performance of 75.
Formulate a linear program to maximize the refinery’s profit.
15. A caterer must prepare from five fruit drinks in stock 500 litres of a “mix fruit
drink” containing at least 20% orange juice, 10% grape juice and 5% pineapple
juice. The inventory data are as shown in the table below:
Orange Grape Pineapple Availability Cost
juice % juice % juice % litres Rs./litre
Drink A 40 40 0 200 15
Drink B 5 10 20 400 7.5
Drink C 100 0 0 100 20
Drink D 0 100 0 50 17.5
Drink E 0 0 0 800 2.5
How much of each fruit drink should the caterer use to obtain the required
composition at the minimum total cost?
16. A 400 m medley relay involves four different swimmers, who successively
swim 100 meters of the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and freestyle. A
coach has six very fast swimmers whose expected time (in seconds) in the
individual events is given in table.
Event A Event B Event C Event D
(backstroke) (Breaststroke) (butterfly) (freestyle)
Swimmer 1 65 73 63 57
Swimmer 2 67 70 65 58
Swimmer 3 68 72 69 55
Swimmer 4 67 75 70 59
Swimmer 5 71 69 75 57
Swimmer 6 69 71 66 59
How should the coach assign swimmers to the relay so as to minimize the sum
of their times?

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17. A plastic manufacturer has 1200 boxes in stock at one factory and another 1000
boxes at his second factory. The manufacturer has orders for this product from
three different retailers in quantities of 1000, 700 and 50 boxes, respectively.
The unit shipping costs (in Rs.) from the factories to the retailers are as follows:
Retailer 1 Retailer 2 Retailer 3
Factory 1 14 13 11
Factory 2 13 13 12
Determine the minimum-cost shipping schedule for satisfying all demands from
current inventory.
18. A semiconductor corporation produces a particular solid-state module that it
supplies to four different television manufacturers. The module can be produced
at each of the corporation’s three plants, although the costs vary because of
differing production efficiencies at the plants. Specifically, it costs Rs.110 to
produce a module at plant A, Rs. 95 at plant B, and Rs. 103 at plant C. Monthly
production capacities of the plants are 7500, 10000, and 8100 modules,
respectively. Sales forecasts project monthly demand at 4200, 8300, 6300, and
2700 modules for television manufacturers I, II, III and IV, respectively. The
cost (in Rs.) for shipping a module from a factory to a manufacturer is as shown
in the table.
Semiconductor Module
Plant I II III IV
A 11 13 16 19
B 12 16 10 14
C 14 13 12 15
Find a production schedule that will meet all needs at minimum total cost.
19. Tool India has contracted with Auto India to supply their automotive discount
stores with wrenches and chisels. Auto India’s weekly demand consists of at
least 1500 wrenches and 1200 chisels. Tool India cannot produce all the
requested units with its present one-shift capacity and must use overtime and
possibly subcontract with other tool shops. The result is an increase in the
production cost per unit, as shown in the following table. Market demand
restricts the ratio of chisels to wrenches to at least 2:1.
Weekly Production Unit Cost
Range (Units) (Rs.)
Wrenches Chisels Wrenches Chisels
Regular 0-550 0-620 20 21
Overtime 551-800 521-900 28 32
Subcontracting 801- 901- 30 42
Formulate the problem as a linear program, and determine the optimum
production schedule for each tool.
20. A ship has three cargo holds – forward, aft and centre. The capacity limits are:
Forward 2000 tonnes 1,00,000 m3
Centre 3000 tonnes 1,35,000 m3
Aft 1500 tonnes 30,000 m3

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The following cargos are offered; the ship owner may accept all or any part of
each commodity.
Commodity Weight (tones) Volume per tonne (m3) Profit per tonne
A 6000 60 60
B 4000 50 80
C 2000 25 50
In order to preserve the trim of the ship, the weight in each hold must be
proportional to the capacity in tones. The objective is to maximize the profit.
Formulate the LP problem.
21. A legal firm has accepted five new cases, each of which can be handled
adequately by any one of its five junior partners. Due to differences in
experience and expertise, however, the junior partners would spend varying
amounts of time on the case. A senior partner has estimated the time
requirements (in hours) as shown below:
Case 1 case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5
Lawyer 1 145 122 130 95 115
Lawyer 2 80 63 85 48 78
Lawyer 3 121 107 93 69 95
Lawyer 4 118 83 116 80 105
Lawyer 5 97 75 120 80 111
Determine an optimal assignment of cases to lawyers such that each junior
partner receives a different case and the total hours expended by the firm is
minimized.
22. A town has budgeted Rs 25,00,000 for the development of new rubbish disposal
areas. Seven sites are available, whose projected capacities and development
costs are given below. Which sites should the town develop?
Site A B C D E F G
Capacity, tons/wk 20 17 15 15 10 8 5
Cost, x 10,000 145 92 70 70 84 14 47
23. An oil refinery produces four grades of motor oil in three process plants. The
refinery incurs a penalty for not meeting the demand of any particular grade of
motor oil. The capabilities of the plants, the production costs, the demands of the
various grades of motor oil, and the penalties are given in the following table.
Production cost to manufacture
Process Capacity of the pant motor oil of grade
plant (kgal/day) 1 2 3 4
1 100 750 900 100 1200
2 150 800 950 1100 1400
3 200 900 1000 1200 1600
Demand (kgal/day) 50 150 100 75
Penalty (for each kgal shortage) 10 12 16 20
Formulate the problem of minimizing the overall cost as an LP problem.
24. Two different products, P1 and P2, can be manufactured by one or both of two
different machines, M1 and M2. The unit processing time of either product on
either machine is the same. The daily capacity of machine M1 is 200 units (of
either P1 or P2, or a mixture of both) and the daily capacity of machine M2 is
250 units. The shop supervisor wants to balance the production schedule of the
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two machines such that the total number of units produced on one machine is
within 5 units of the number produced on the other. The profit per unit of P1 is
Rs. 100 and that of P2 is Rs. 150. Set up the problem as an LP in equation form.
25. In preparation for the winter season, a clothing company is manufacturing
overcoats, jackets, insulated pants, and gloves. All products are manufactured in
four different departments: cutting, insulating, sewing, and packaging. The
company has received firm orders for its products. The contract stipulates a
penalty for undelivered items. The following table provides the pertinent data of
the situation.
Time per unit (hr)
Overcoats Jackets Pants Gloves Capacity (hr)
Cutting 0.30 0.30 0.25 0.16 1000
Insulating 0.25 0.35 0.30 0.10 1000
Sewing 0.45 0.50 0.40 0.22 1000
Packaging 0.15 0.15 0.10 0.05 1000
Demand 800 750 600 500
Profit (Rs./unit) 30 40 20 10
Penalty (Rs./Unit) 15 20 10 8
Devise an optimal production plan for the company.
26. MGVCL operates two thermal power plants, A and B, using three different
grades of coal, c1, C2, and C3. The minimum power to be generated at plants A
and B is 30, and 80 MWh, respectively. The quantities of various grades of coal
required to generate 1 MWh of power at each power plant, the pollution caused
by the various grades of coal at each power plant, and the costs of coal are given
in the following table.
Quantity of coal
required to generate Pollution caused at Cost of Coal at
1 MWh at the Power Power Plant Power Plant
Coal Plant (tons)
type A B A B A B
C1 2.5 1.5 1.0 1.5 20 18
C2 1.0 2.0 1.5 2.0 25 28
C3 3.0 2.5 2.0 2.5 18 12
Formulate the problem of determining the amounts of different grades of coal to
be used at each power plant to minimize:
(a) the total pollution level, and (b) the total cost of production.

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P.M. Tadvi, Asist. Prof., BVM Engg. College, V.V.Nagar