Module 2 Theory Notes

TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
INTRODUCTION
Transportation problems are a special branch of linear programming problems that

consists of the problems which are dealing with transportation type. The objective is to
determine quantity of various commodities or goods to be shipped from ‘m’ number of
origins to a ‘n’ number of different destinations in such a way that total transportation
cost, total distance travelled in shipping the goods are minimum. The quantities
available in the transportation problems are homogenous goods.
To achieve the objectives of the transportation problem, we need to know the cost
that result from transporting one unit of a commodity from different origins to
different destinations. Also capacities available at different sources and quantities
demanded at each destination need to be known before achieving the objectives of the
transportation problems.
Characteristics and assumptions in transportation problem:

1. The quantities available and demanded at each and every source and
destination must be known and it must be in whole numbers
2. Shipment not allowed between destinations.
3. The transportation cost of shipping the commodity or goods from each source to
each destination are assumed to be known
4. The problem in transportation is to determine how many units need to be
shipped from each source to each destination by satisfying all the demand and
supply requirements with minimum shipping cost or time.
UNBALANCED TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
This situation arises when total supply not equal to total demand, it means either total
supply is greater than total demand or total demand is greater than total supply. To find
initial solution by using NWC or LCM or VAM, first convert the unbalanced problem
to a balanced problem by adding dummy destination (former case) whose demand is
equal to surplus of supply or dummy source whose supply equal to surplus of demand
(latter case) with a cell cost values of zero in both the cases.
After converting the unbalanced problem to a balanced problem, the procedure of
finding initial feasible solution by using all the three techniques is same
MAXIMIZATION PROBLEM
When you can say the problem is maximization means, instead of unit costs the transportation
tableau reads unit profit. One can find solution in two different ways:
1. Convert maximization to minimization by subtracting all the unit profit from each
plant with respect to each destination from the selected maximum profit. Then apply
as usual LCM, VAM, NWC and MODI etc.,
TERMINOLOGIES USED IN TRANSPORTATION MODEL
1. Feasible Solution: Non Negative values of xij where I = 1, 2 ………….. m, j = 1, 2, ------, n which
satisfies the constraints of availability and requirement is called the feasible solution.
2. Basic Feasible Solution (BFS): A feasible solution to m origin and n destinations it is said to
be basic if the no. of positive allocations are m + n – 1 i.e., 1 < the sum of rows and columns.
3. Optimal Solution: The optimal solution itself may or may not be a basic solution this is done through
successive improvement to the initial basic solution until no further decrease in transportation is
possible. A feasible solution is said to be optimal solution if it minimizes the total transportation cost
4. Balance Transportation Problem: A transportation problem in which the total supply

from all the sources equals to total demand in all the destinations. Total supply = Total
demand;
5. Unbalanced Transportation Problem: Such problems which are not balanced are called
unbalanced, where the total supply is not equal to total demand.
Degeneracy in Transportation Problem
When the following condition is satisfied, the transportation problem is said to be non
degenerate, otherwise it is a degenerate solution.
The condition is number of occupied cells must be equal to one less than the sum of number
of rows and columns i.e., m+n-1 where m is number of rows and n is number of columns.
Before proceeding for optimal solution, test the condition of degeneracy for the initial
feasible transportation problem. If the condition failed i.e., problem with degenerate , to
correct the degeneracy select the water cell with minimum cost and assign infinitely small
quantity i.e., epsilon ∈ to the minimum water cell till the condition satisfies. After the
conversion of degenerate transportation problem to non degenerate transportation problem,
apply the concept of Stepping Stone or MODI method to find the optimal solution.
ASSIGNMENT
Introduction:
Simplex and transportation techniques for solving the LPP are discussed in previous chapters.
However, there are some special cases of linear programming problems whose solutions can be
obtained by special techniques, they are easier to apply and greatly reduce the computational work
required by the simplex and transportation techniques. This model deals with one such special case
the assignment problem which finds many applications in allocation and scheduling like products
to factories, job to machines, contracts to bidders, assigning salesman to different regions, vehicles
and drivers, workers to machines, jobs to employees etc. Assignment is generally made on one-
to-o one basis and if there are more jobs to do than can be done, one can decide which job to leave
unassign or what resource to add. The objective is to assign a number of origins (jobs) to equal
number of destinations (machines) at a minimum cost or maximum profit. The name originates from
‘Classical Problems’
Assignment is a major problem for the organization because employees who are working in the organization are
heterogeneous in nature in terms of experience, knowledge, educational background etc., due to that they possess various
abilities for performing different jobs and also the cost of performing those jobs by different people are different. Due to
this reason assignment problem addresses this question of how the assignment should be made in order to minimize the
total cost involved
After transportation problems, another type of special linear programming problem called as
the Assignment Problem. The objective is to assign a number of origins (jobs) to equal
number of destinations (machines) at a minimum cost or maximum profit. The name
originates from ‘Classical Problems’.
There are many situations where assignment concepts exists, they are: assigning sales person
to different territories, workers to machines, machines to jobs, jobs to employees etc.,
Assignment is a major problem for the organization because employees who are working in
the organization are heterogeneous in nature in terms of experience, knowledge, educational
background etc., due to that they posses various abilities for performing different jobs and
also the cost of performing those jobs by different people are different. Due to this reason
assignment problem addresses this question of how the assignment should be made in order
to minimize the total cost involved.
Let us assume aij, is the cost associated in completing the task of ‘i’th job if it is assigned to
jth employee, the problem is here to find which job should be assigned to which employees
so that total cost of performing all the jobs is minimum.
Employees
Jobs
E1 E2 E3 --- --- Ej
J1 a11 a12 a13 --- --- a1j
J2 a21 a22 a23 --- --- a2j
J3 a31 a31 a33 --- --- a3j
J4 a41 a42 a43 --- --- a4j
: : : : --- --- :
: : : : --- --- :
: : : : --- --- :
Ji ai1 ai2 ai3 --- --- aij

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TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

Transportation problems are a special branch of linear programming problems that

Characteristics and assumptions in transportation problem:

UNBALANCED TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

4. Balance Transportation Problem: A transportation problem in which the total supply

Degeneracy in Transportation Problem

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