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Problem Statement: Sunco Oil produces oil at two wells. Well 1 can produce up to
150,000 barrels per day, and well 2 can produce up to 200,000 barrels per day. It is
possible to ship oil directly from the wells to Sunco's customers in Los Angeles and New
York. Alternatively, Sunco could transport oil to the ports of Mobile and Galveston and
then ship it by tanker to New York or Los Angeles. Los Angeles requires 160,000 barrels
per day, and New York requires 140,000 barrels per day. The costs of shipping 1,000
barrels between two points are shown in Table 59. Formulate a transshipment model (and
equivalent transportation model) that could be used to minimize the transport costs in
meeting the oil demands of Los Angeles and New York.
Create a balanced transportation tableau and find an initial basic feasible solution using
the minimum cost method.
The problem statement implies that wells 1 and 2 are supplies while Los
Angeles, New York, Mobile and Galveston are warehouses or
transshipment points. It may seem that Los Angeles and New York are
demand points, but since they are capable of supplying each other with oil
as seen only in the table, they are indeed transshipment points. A basic
transportation graph is shown below to detail the possible routes of travel.
W1 LA
W2 NY
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$0 $6 $16 $17 $0 (s + 0) =
Mobile 350,000
$6 $0 $14 $16 $0 (s + 0) =
Galveston 350,000
+M +M $0 $15 $0 (s + 0) =
N.Y. 350,000
+M +M $15 $0 $0 (s + 0) =
L.A. 350,000
(s + 0) = (s + 0) = (s + 140,000)= (s + 160,000)= ()
Demand 350,000 350,000 490,000 510,000 50,000 1,750,000
Each supply point has a supply equal to its original supply, and each
demand point has a demand equal to its original demand. Let s = total
available supply of 350,000. Each transshipment point has a supply equal
to (points original supply) + s and a demand equal to (points original
demand) + s.
Since the total supply exceeds the demand by 50,000 a dummy demand is
created to balance the problem.
The results indicate that a minimum cost occurs when Well 1 supplies
New York with 140,000 barrels at 2.5 per barrel for a cost of $3,500.
Also, Well 2 will supply Los Angeles with 160,000 barrels at 2.5 per
barrel for a cost of $4,000. It is important to note that the Mobile and
Galveston transshipment points will not send or receive any barrels with
this optimum plan. The total cost of shipping the 300,000 barrels to their
destinations in Los Angeles and New York will be $7,500.
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