Transportation problem

 The transportation model deals with a special class of linear

programming problem in which the objective is to transport
a homogeneous commodity from various origins or factories
to different destinations or markets at a total minimum cost.
 A product is transported from a number of sources to a
number of destinations at the minimum possible cost, and
 Each source is able to supply a fixed number of units of the
product to each destination, which has a fixed demand for
the product.
 Since there is only one commodity a destination can receive
its demand from one or more sources.
 The objective of the model is to determine the amount to be
shipped from each source to each destination such that the
total transportation cost is minimized.
 The places where goods originate from (like plants,
warehouse, etc.) are called the sources or the origins and
places where they are to be shipped are called the
destinations.
 It is easy to express a transportation problem

mathematically in terms of an LP model, which can be

solved by the simplex method.
 However, since it involves a large number of variables

and constraints, it takes a long time to solve it.

 Therefore transportation algorithms have been developed

for this purpose. The structure of transportation problem

involves a large number of shipping routes from several
origins to several destinations.
A transportation problem model, which has ‘m’ sending
locations (origins) and ‘n’ receiving locations (destinations)
provides a framework for presenting all relevant data.
These are:
1. Quantity supply of each origin
2. Quantity demand of each destination
3. Unit transportation cost from each origin to each
destination
 The transportation algorithm requires the assumptions
that:
All goods are homogeneous, so that any origin is capable
of supplying to any destination.
Transportation costs are a linear function of (or directly proportional
to) the quantity shipped over any route.
Each source has a fixed supply of units, where this entire supply
must be distributed to the destinations. Similarly, each destination has
a fixed demand for units, where this entire demand must be received
Destination

from the sources.

From
To D1 D2 … Dn Total
Supply

S1 X11 C11 X12 C12 … X1n C1n SS1

Source (origins)

S2 X21 C21 X22 C22 … X2n C2n SS2

: : : : : :
Sm Xm1 Cm1 Xm2 Cm2 … Xmn Cmn SSm

Total dd1 dd2 … ddm

Demand
Where:
SSi - is total quantity of commodity available at origin I (total supply of origin i).
ddj - is total quantity of commodities needed at destinations j (total demand of destination j).

Cij - measures the costs of transporting one unit of commodity from source i to destination j.

Xij - is the quantity of commodities transported from i th origin to jth destination.

Minimize

Subject to:
, i = 1, 2, …, m (supply constraints)

, j = 1, 2, …, n (demand constraints)

for all i and j

As a remark we have to know that before applying the
transportation algorithm to solve a specific problem it is
necessary to satisfy the following conditions:

1. Supply and requirement must be expressed in the same unit.

2. Total supply must be equal to total demand, i.e., or SS =
dd.
 This is called rim condition.
The problem satisfied in this condition is called balanced
transportation problem, otherwise, it is unbalanced
transportation problem.
The condition supply equals demand is the necessary and
sufficient condition for the existence of the feasible solution
for the transportation problem.
There are three pertinent cases in transportation problems.
These are:-
a. Balanced case: a case where total supply equals total
demand (DD = SS)
Customers
To D1 D2 D3 D4 Total
From Supply

S1 X11 3 X12 6 X13 8 X14 5 20

S2 X21 6 X22 1 X23 2 X24 5 28

Source

S3 X31 7 X32 8 X33 3 X34 9 17

Total 15 19 13 18 65
Demand 65
b. Unbalanced case: a case where total supply exceeds
total demand (SS > DD), and to change this unbalanced case
into its balanced form we should introduce dummy receiver.
 These shipments indicate unused supply capacity.
Customers
To D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 Total
From Supply

S1 X11 3 X 6 X 8 X 5 X15 4 10
12 13 14

S2 X21 6 X 1 X 2 X 5 X24 1 20
22 23 24
Source

S3 X31 7 X 8 X 3 X 9 X35 3 15
32 33 34

S4 X41 2 X 6 X 2 X 1 X45 5 30
42 43 44
c. Unbalanced case: a case where total demand exceeds total
supply (SS < DD), and to change this unbalanced case into its
balanced form we should introduce dummy supplier.
These shows unmet demand.
Customers
To D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 Total
From Supply

S1 X1 3 X 6 X 8 X 5 X15 4 10
1 12 13 14

S2 X 6 X 1 2 X 5 X24 1 20
21 22 X 24
Source

23

S3 X 7 X 8 X 3 X 9 X35 3 5
31 32 33 34

S4 X 2 X 6 X 2 X 1 X45 5 30
41 42 43 44

Total 20 20 15 10 5 65
Demand 70
We can convert this unbalanced case into balanced as:
The transportation algorithm is based on the assumption that
the model is balanced.

The feasible solutions property: A transportation problem

will have feasible solutions if and only if:

Degeneracy: An initial basic feasible solution is degenerate

if m + n – 1 is not equal to the number of cells to which
allocations made.

However, if these two numbers are equal (i.e., m + n – 1 =

number of cells allocation made) the initial basic feasible
solution will be called non-degenerate.
 An initial basic feasible solution to a transportation problem
can be found by any one of the following three methods:
(i) North West Corner method (NWC)
(ii) Least Cost Method (LCM)
(iii) Vogel's Approximation Method (VAM)
 The three methods differ in the "quality" of the starting
basic solution they produce, in the sense that a better
starting solution yields a smaller objective value.
Steps of the North West corner method :-
1.Allocate as much as possible to the cell in the upper left –
hand corner subject to the supply and demand constraints.
2.Allocate as much as possible to the next adjacent feasible
cell.
3. Repeat step 2 until all rim requirement are met.
Steps of the least cost method :-
1. Allocate as much as possible to the feasible cell with the
minimum transportation cost.
2. Repeat step 1 until all rim requirements are met.
 Steps of Vogel’s approximation method:-
1. Determine the penalty cost for each row and column by

subtracting the lowest cell cost in the row or column from the next

lowest cell cost in the same row or column.

2. Select the row or column with the highest penalty cost.

3.Allocate as much as possible to the feasible cell with the lowest

transportation cost in the row or column having the highest penalty

cost.

4. Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 until all rim requirements have been met.

 Once the initial basic feasible solution has been determined by any

of the previous three methods, the next step is to solve the model

for the optimal (i.e. minimum cost) solution.

• Example; Use the following data and calculate the
optimal feasible solution with the three methods.
To W1 W2 W3 Total
From Supply

S1 X11 5 X12 6 X13 7 70

S2 X21 4 X22 2 X23 5 30

S3 X31 1 X32 5 X33 4 50

Total 65 42 43 150
Demand 150
 Optimality test: A basic feasible solution is optimal if and
only if for every (i, j) such that is non-basic.
 Thus, the only work required by the optimality test is the
derivation of the values of and for the current basic feasible
solution and then the calculation of these as follows,
 Use the above initial BF solution that we did in the LCM to
test the optimality.
 Assignment Problems
There are many situations where the assignment of people or
machines and so on to different jobs is a necessary.
Peoples are assigned to different jobs (works) like:
workers are assigned to different machines,
 clerks are assigned to various check-out counters,
 salesmen are assigned to different sales areas,
 service crews are assigned to different districts, and
so on are typical examples of the assignment problems
The assignment is a problem because people possess varying
abilities for performing different jobs.
Therefore, the costs of performing the jobs by different
people are different.
Obviously, if all persons could do a job in the same time or at
the same cost then it would not matter who is assigned on the
job.
Thus, in an assignment problem, the question is how should
the assignments be made in order that the total cost of
performing the job is minimum.
A typical assignment problem is stated in the form of (n x n)
matrix (square matrix).
Jobs Machines (Time in hours) Availability
A B C D

W C 11 C 12 C 13 C
14
1

X C 21 C 22 C 23 C 24
1

Y C 31 C 32 C 33 C 34
1

Z C 41 C 42 C 43 C 44
1

Requirement: 1 1 1 1
Mathematical Model:
Min , for all i = 1, 2, …, n and j = 1, 2, …, n
Subject to;
1 if the ith person is assigned to jth job
0 if not

 (One job is done by the ith person)

 (Only one person should be assigned to the j th job)

 Where denotes that the jth job is to be assigned to

the ith person.
The difference between transportation and assignment problems
Transportation problem Assignment problem
1 Number of sources and destinations 1. Number of workers and jobs
need not be equal. Hence, the cost need to be equal. Hence, the
matrix is not necessarily be a square
matrix.
cost matrix is a square matrix.
2. .
indicates the quantity to be 2 indicates the jth job to be
transported from ith origin to jth assigned to ith person. It can
destination. It can take any possible
value.
take either the value 1 or 0.
3. The row and column sum is equal to 3.
The row and column sum is
SSi and DDj exactly 1.
4. The problem is unbalanced if not 4. The problem is unbalanced if
equal. the cost matrix is not a square
matrix.
•Methods of solving assignment problems
There are three methods of solving an assignment
problem. These are:
a.Simple method;
b.Complete enumeration
c. Hungarian assignment method;
Problem
1, There are 3 jobs A, B, and C and three machines X,
Y, and Z. All the jobs can be processed on all
machines. The time required for processing job on a
machine is given below in the form of matrix.
Make allocation to minimize the total processing
time using the above methods?
 Machines ( time in hours)

Jobs X Y Z

A 11 16 21

B 20 13 17

C 13 15 12
 D, Hungarian Method / Flood's technique / Assignment
algorithm: (opportunity cost method)

 A method, designed specifically to handle the assignment

problems in an efficient way, which is based on the concept
of opportunity cost.

 A typical balanced assignment problem involving a certain

number of persons and an equal number of jobs and with an
objective function of the minimization type, the method is
applied as listed in the following steps.
Step 1: Prepare a cost matrix (a square cost matrix).
Step 2: Prepare the modified matrix as follows:

 Subtract the smallest cost element in each row of the cost

table from each element in that row.
 As a result, there shall be at least one zero in each row of
this new table, called the Reduced Cost Table.

 In the reduced cost table, subtract the smallest cost element

in each column from every other entry in the column.

 As a consequence of this action, there would be at least one

zero in each of the rows and columns of the second reduced
cost table.
The logic here is if we assign the job to any machine having
higher cost or time, then we have to bear the penalty.
If we subtract smallest element in the row and column from
all other element of the row and column respectively, there
will be at least one cell having zero, i.e zero opportunity cost
or zero penalty.
Hence that cell is more competent one for assignment.

Step 3: Draw the minimum number of horizontal and vertical

lines (not the diagonal ones) that are required to cover all the
zero elements.
 If the number of lines drawn is equal to n (the number of
rows or columns) the solution is optimal, proceed the
assignment by a single zero rows or column.
 If the number of lines drawn is smaller than, Select the
smallest uncovered (by the lines) cost element.
 Subtract this element from all uncovered elements including
itself and add this element to each value located at the
intersection of any two lines.
 The cost elements through which only one line passes
remain unaltered.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 until an optimal solution is obtained.

 If there is no row or column with only a single zero element
left, then select a row/column arbitrarily and choose one of
the jobs (or persons) and make the assignment.
Example: Solve the following assignment problem for optimal solution using HAM. The time taken
(in minutes) by workers is presented in the table.
Job
Worker A B C D
1 45 40 51 67
2 57 42 63 55
3 49 52 48 64
4 41 45 60 55
Example: using the following cost matrix, determine:
(a) Optimal job assignment.
(b) The cost of assignments.

Job
Mechanic 1 2 3 4
A 4 3 3 2
B 9 7 8 2
C 7 5 6 2
D 10 5 8 2
 Unbalanced Assignment Problems
The Hungarian method of solving an assignment problem
requires that the number of columns should be equal to the
number of rows.
When they are equal, the problem is a balanced problem, and
when not, it is an unbalanced problem.

Thus, where there are 5 workers and 4 machines, or when

there are 4 workers and 6 machines we have unbalanced
situations in which one-to-one match is not possible.

In case the machines are in excess, the excess machine(s)

would remain idle and so is the case when men are in excess.
In such situations, dummy column(s)/row(s), whichever is
smaller in number, are inserted with zeros at the cost elements.
After introducing dummy columns/rows, the problem is
solved in the usual manner.
Example: a company has 4 machines to do 3 jobs. Each job can be assigned to one machine. The cost
of doing the job in different machine is given below. Determine the optimal job assignment which
minimizes the total cost.
Machine
Jobs A B C D
1 18 24 28 32
2 8 13 17 18
3 10 15 19 22
 INTEGER PROGRAMMING

Linear programming has numerous diverse applications.

However, one key limitation for its many applications is the
assumption of divisibility which requires non-integer values
are non-permissible.
In linear programming problem, the decision variables
represent men, machines, vehicles, number of items to be
produced etc.
These variables make sense only if they have integer values
in the final solution to the linear programming problem.
The mathematical model for integer programming is simply
the linear programming model with one additional restriction
that the variables must have integer values.
If all of the variables must be integer valued the model is a
pure integer programming; where as if only some of the
decision variables must be integers (so the divisibility
assumption holds for the rest) the model is called a mixed
integer programming.
If the decision variables are restricted to take two values (i.e.,
0 or 1) the model is called binary integer programming.
 Solving integer programming problem: a branch-and-
bound algorithm for pure integer programming
This is the divide and conquer method.
We divide a large problem into a few smaller ones(This is the
“branch” part.)
The conquering part is done by estimate how good a solution
we can get for each smaller problems.
For any given integer programming problem the
corresponding linear programming problem obtained by
deleting integer restriction is known as linear programming
 Solve the following using branch-and-bound
technique:

Max 5x1 + 6x2

St;
x1 + x 2 ≤ 5
4x1 + 7x2 ≤ 28

• x1 = blocks of town houses purchased

• x2 = apartment building
THANK YOU

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