Transportation,

Transshipment and
Assignment
Transportation Model
The transportation model is formulated for a class of problems with the
following unique characteristics:
1. A product is transported from a number of sources to a number of
destinations at the minimum possible cost; and
2. each source is able to supply a fixed number of units of the product,
and each destination has a fixed demand for the product.
SAMPLE TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM
Wheat is harvested in the Midwest and stored in grain elevators in three different
cities—Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines. These grain elevators supply three
flour mills, located in Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. Grain is shipped to the
mills in railroad cars, each car capable of holding 1 ton of wheat. Each grain
elevator is able to supply the following number of tons (i.e., railroad cars) of
wheat to the mills on a monthly basis and each mill demands the following
number of tons of wheat per month:
The cost of transporting 1 ton of wheat from each grain elevator (source) to each mill (destination)
differs, according to the distance and rail system. These costs are shown in the following table:

The problem is to determine how many tons of wheat to transport from each grain elevator to each
mill on a monthly basis to minimize the total cost of transportation.
Model
Minimize Z = 6XA + 8XB + 10XC + 7YA + 11YB + 11YC + 4ZA + 5ZB + 12ZC
subject to
• XA + XB + XC = 150
• YA + YB + YC = 175 
• ZA + ZB + ZC = 275
• XA + YA + ZA = 200
• XB + YB + ZB = 100
• XC + YC + ZC = 300
• Xi, Yi, Zi ≥ 0  
Transshipment Model
The transshipment model is an extension of the transportation model in
which intermediate transshipment points are added between the sources
and destinations.
Example
In addition to the problem earlier, wheat is harvested at farms in Nebraska
and Colorado before being shipped to the three grain elevators in Kansas
City, Omaha, and Des Moines, which are now transshipment points. The
amount of wheat harvested at each farm is 300 tons. The wheat is then
shipped to the mills in Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. The shipping
costs from the grain elevators to the mills remain the same, and the
shipping costs from the farms to the grain elevators are as follows:
 Farm Supply Constraints
X13 + X14 + X15 = 300
X23 + X24 + X25 = 300
Mills Demand Constraints
X36 + X46 + X56 = 200
X37 + X47 + X57 = 100
X38 + X48 + X58 = 300

Grain Elevators Constraint

X13 + X23 – X36 - X37 – X38 = 0
X14 + X24 – X46 – X47 – X48 = 0
X15 + X25 – X56 – X57 – X58 = 0
Model
Minimize Z = 16X13 + 10X14 + 12X15 + 15X23 + 14X24 + 17X25 + 6X36 + 8X37 + 10X38 + 7X46 + 11X47 + 11X48 + 4X56 +
5X57 + 12X58
Subject to
X13 + X14 + X15 = 300
X23 + X24 + X25 = 300
X36 + X46 + X56 = 200
X37 + X47 + X57 = 100
X38 + X48 + X58 = 300
X13 + X23 – X36 - X37 – X38 = 0
X14 + X24 – X46 – X47 – X48 = 0
X15 + X25 – X56 – X57 – X58 = 0
Xij ≥ 0
Assignment Model
The assignment model is a special form of a linear programming model
that is similar to the transportation model. There are differences,
however. In the assignment model, the supply at each source and the
demand at each destination are each limited to one unit.
Assignment Model Example
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has four basketball games on a particular
night. The conference office wants to assign four teams of officials to the four games
in a way that will minimize the total distance traveled by the officials. The supply is
always one team of officials, and the demand is for only one team of officials at each
game. The distances in miles for each team of officials to each game location are
shown in the following table:
 Minimize Z = 210XAR + 90XAA +
180XAD + 160XAC + 100XBR + 70XBA
+ 130XBD + 200XBC + 175XCR +
105XCA + 140XCD + 170XCC + 80XDR
+ 65XDA + 105XDD + 120XDC

Subject to
XAR + XAA + XAD + XAC = 1 XAR + XBR + XCR + XDR = 1

XBR + XBA + XBD + XBC = 1 XAA + XBA + XCA + XDA = 1

XCR + XCA + XCD + XCC = 1 XAD + XBD + XCD + XDD = 1
XDR + XDA + XDD + XDC = 1 XAC + XBC + XCC + XDC = 1

Xij ≥ 0