THE TRANSPORTATION

PROBLEM MODEL
 Sources Destinations
TABLE 8.4 TERMINOLOGY FOR THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
Prototype Example General Problem
Truckloads of canned peas Units of a commodity

Three canneries m sources

Four warehouses n destinations

Output from cannery j Supply si from source j

Allocation to warehouse j Demand dj at destination j

Shipping cost per truckload from Cost cij per unit distributed from
cannery I to warehouse j source i to destination j
The requirements Assumption: Each source has a fixed
supply of units, where this entire supply must be distributed
to the destinations.
Si = number of units being supplied by source i, for i = 1,2,…m.
Similarly, each destination has a fixed demand for units,
where this entire demand must be received from the
sources.
dj = number of units being received by destination j, for j = 1,2,…n.
 The feasible solutions property:
A transportation problem will have feasible solutions
if and only if 𝐦 𝒏

෍ Si = ෍ dj
𝒊=𝟏 𝒋=𝟏

Shipping Cost ($) per truckload

Warehouse

1 2 3 4 Output
1 464 513 654 867 75
Cannery 2 352 416 690 791 125
3 995 682 388 685 100
Allocation 80 65 70 85 300
 TABLE 8.4 TERMINOLOGY FOR THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
The cost assumption: The cost of distributing units from any
particular Prototype
sourceExample
to any particularGeneral Problem
destination is directly
tocanned
Truckloads of
proportional the number
peas of Units
units distributed.
of a commodity Therefore, this
costThree
is just the unit cost of distribution
canneries m sources times the number of units
distributed.
Four warehouses n destinations

cij = from
Output t unit costj for sourceSupply
cannery i and destination
si from source j j.
Allocation to warehouse j Demand dj at destination j

Shipping cost per truckload from Cost cij per unit distributed from
cannery I to warehouse j source i to destination j
TABLE 8.5 PARAMETER TABLE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
Cost per unit Distributed
Destination
1 2 …… n Supply
1 c11 c12 …… c1n s1
Source 2 c21PARAMETERS
c22 …… OF c2n s2
. …… …… .
.
…… …… THE MODEL .
. .
m cm1 cm2 cmn Sm
Demand d1 d2 …… dn
The model: Any problem (whether involving
transportation or not) fits the model for a transportation
problem if it can be described completely in terms of a
parameter table and it satisfies both the requirements
assumption and the cost assumption. The objective is to
minimize the total cost of distributing the units. All the
parameters of the model are included in this parameter
table.
TABLE 8.5 PARAMETER TABLE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
Cost per unit Distributed
Destination
1 2 …… n Supply
1 c11 c12 …… c1n s1
Source 2 c21 c22 …… c2n s2
.
…… …… …… …… .
. .
. .
m cm1 cm2 cmn Sm
Demand d1 d2 …… dn
 Integer solutions property:
For transportation problems where every si and dj
have an integer value, all the basic variables
(allocations) in every basic feasible (BF) solution
(including an optimal one) also have integer
values.