Welcome to the course

Operations Research

Introduction to Operations Research and Linear Programming

Dr. Ramesh Krishnan

IIM Kozhikode.
Ramesh.Krishnan@iimk.ac.in
What is Operations Research/
Management Science
• Operations Research (OR) is the discipline of applying advanced analytics

to help make better decisions.

• Descriptive, Diagnostic, Predictive & Prescriptive Analytics

• Management science is a discipline that attempts to aid managerial

decision-making by applying a scientific approach to managerial problems
that involve quantitative factors

• As the name implies OR involves “research on operations (military)”

• However, now, the nature of the organization is essentially immaterial

Terminologies used in Linear Programming
• Decision Variables

• Parameters

• Objective Function – Max/Min

• Constraints & Types of Constraints

• Non-negativity Constraints
• Linear Programming (LP) problems
- Linear objective function
- Linear constraints
• Why only LP?
- Majority of real-life problems can be approximated
- Efficient solution procedures
- Easy Sensitivity Analysis
Steps to be followed in solving Linear
Programming Problem

1. Identifying the decision variables

2. Writing the objective function

3. Writing the constraints

4. Writing the non-negativity restrictions.

Example Problem No.1
Consider a small manufacturer making two products
A and B. Two resources R1 and R2 are required to
make these products. Each unit of Product A requires
1 unit of R1 and 3 units of R2. Each unit of Product B
requires 1 unit of R1 and 2 units of R2. The
manufacturer has 5 units of R1 and 12 units of R2
available. The manufacturer also makes a profit of
Rs. 6 per unit of Product A sold and Rs. 5 per unit of
Product B sold.
Solution
Decision Variables:
X1 = Number of units of Product A made
X2 = Number of units of Product B made
Parameters/Resources:
Resources R1 & R2
Objective Function:
Minimization or Maximization?
Profit of Rs.6 per unit of Product A & Rs.5 per unit of Product B

Maximize Z = 6X1 + 5X2

Constraints:
Consumption of resource R1 & R2 should be within the availability

X1 + X2 <= 5
3X1 + 2X2 <= 12
Non Negativity X1, X2 >= 0
Assumptions of Linear Programming

• Proportionality - Absence of economies of scale

• Additivity – Absence of interaction b/n variables
• Divisibility – Non-integer values are acceptable
• Certainty – Model parameters are known and constant
Example Problem No.2: Wyndor Glass Co. Product Mix
Problem

• Wyndor has developed the following new products:

• An 8-foot glass door with aluminum framing.
• A 4-foot by 6-foot double-hung, wood-framed window.
• The company has three plants
• Plant 1 produces aluminum frames and hardware.
• Plant 2 produces wood frames.
• Plant 3 produces glass and assembles the windows and doors.
Questions:
1. Should they go ahead with launching these two new products?
2. If so, what should be the product mix?
Solution

• What are the decision variables?

D = the number of doors to produce
W = the number of windows to produce
• What is the objective function
Maximize P = $300D + $500W
subject to Constraints
D≤4
2W ≤ 12
3D + 2W ≤ 18
and
D ≥ 0, W ≥ 0.

2.9
 Example Problem No. 3
• The Mighty Silver Ball Company manufactures three kinds of pinball
machines, each requiring a different manufacturing technique.

• The Super Deluxe Machine requires 17 hours of labor, 8 hours of

testing, and yields a profit of $300.

• The Silver Ball Special requires 14 hours of labor, 12 hours of testing,

and yields a profit of $250.

• The Bumper King requires 10 hours of labor, 15 hours of testing, and

yields a profit of $200.
 Example Problem No. 3
• There are 1000 hours of labor and 600 hours of testing available.

• In addition, a marketing forecast has shown that the demand for the
Super Deluxe is no more than 25 machines, demand for the Silver Ball
Special no more than 50, and demand for Bumper King no more than
100.

• The manufacturer wants to determine the optimal production quantities

that will maximize his total profit

• Formulate this as a linear programming problem

 Machine Labor Testing Profit / Unit

Super Deluxe
17 8 $300
Machine

Silver Ball
14 12 $250
Special

Bumper King 10 15 $200

Availability 1000 hrs 600 hrs

Solution to Example Problem No.3
1. Decision Variables???

2. Let x1, x2, and x3 be the production quantities of

machines 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

3. Constraints???

4. Hours of Labor and Testing, Upper limit on production

quantities

5. Last, the objective function is to maximize the profit

x1, x2 , x3 – Number of units of machine 1, 2 & 3 to be
produced

Maximize
Z = 300x1 +250x2 + 200x3

Subject to

17x1 + 14x2 + 10x3 < 1000

8x1 + 12x2 + 15x3 < 600
x1 ≤ 25, x2 ≤ 50, x3 ≤ 100

x1 > 0, x2 > 0, x3 > 0

Problem No. 5 – Nurse Recruitment
• A hospital administrator has the following minimal daily requirements for nursing
personnel:

Period Clock Time Minimal No. of nurses

1 6 AM to 10 AM 60
2 10 AM to 2 PM 70
3 2 PM to 6 PM 60
4 6 PM to 10 PM 50
5 10 PM to 2 AM 20
6 2 AM to 6 AM 30

• Nurses report to the hospital wards at the beginning of each period and work for 8
consecutive hours. The hospital wants to determine the minimal number of nurses to
employ so that there will be a sufficient number of personnel available for each period.
Problem No. 5 - Solution

• Decision variables: Let xi represent the number of nurses reporting in period ‘i’
where i varies from 1 to 6 (xi >=0)

• Constraints: x1+x6>=60 (Period 1)

x2+x1>=70 (Period 2)

x2+x3>=60 (Period 3)

x3+x4>=50 (Period 4)

x4+x5>=20 (Period 5)

x5+x6>=30 (Period 6)

• Objective Function: Minimize Z = x1+x2+x3+x4+x5+x6

Thank you ☺