Minimization Problems

Example
• M&D Chemicals produces two products that are sold as raw materials to
companies manufacturing bath soaps and laundry detergents.
• Based on an analysis of current inventory levels and potential demand for
the coming month, M&D’s management specified that the combined
production for products A and B must total at least 350 gallons.
• Separately, a major customer’s order for 125 gallons of product A must also
be satisfied.
• Product A requires 2 hours of processing time per gallon and product B
requires 1 hour of processing time per gallon.
• For the coming month, 600 hours of processing time are available. M&D’s
objective is to satisfy these requirements at a minimum total production
cost. Production costs are $2 per gallon for product A and $3 dollar per
gallon for product B.
• Formulate the linear programming problem.
Graphical Solution Procedure
• Steps of the graphical solution procedure for minimization problem:
1. Prepare a graph of the feasible solutions for each of the constraints
2. Determine the feasible region by identifying the solutions that satisfy all the
constraints simultaneously
3. Draw an objective function line
4. Move parallel objective function lines toward smaller objective function
values until further improvement is infeasible
5. Any feasible solution on the objective function line with the smallest value
is an optimal solution
Surplus Variables
• For any ‘less than or equal to’ constraint, a slack variable is added to LHS to
bring the equality form
• For any ‘greater than or equal to’ constraint, a surplus variable is
subtracted from LHS to bring the equality form.
Practice Problem
• As part of a quality improvement initiative, Consolidated Electronics
employees complete a three-day training program on team building and a
two-day training program on problem solving.
• The manager of quality improvement has requested that at least 8 training
programs on team building and at least 10 training programs on problem
solving be offered during the next six months. In addition, senior level
management has specified that at least 25 training programs must be
offered during this period.
• Consolidated Electronics uses a consultant to teach the training programs.
During the next quarter, the consultant has 84 days of training time
available. Each training program on team building costs $10,000 and each
training program on problem solving costs $8,000.
Practice Problem
1. Formulate a linear programming model that can be used to determine
the number of training programs on team building and the number of
training programs on problem solving that should be offered in order to
minimize total cost.
2. Graph the feasible region
3. Determine the coordinates of each extreme point
4. Solve for the minimum-cost solution.