Transportation,

Transshipment, and
Assignment Problems

Chapter 6

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Chapter Topics

■ The Transportation Model

■ Computer Solution of a Transportation Problem

■ The Transshipment Model

■ Computer Solution of a Transshipment Problem

■ The Assignment Model

■ Computer Solution of an Assignment Problem

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Overview

■ Transportation, Transshipment, and Assignment models are

part of a larger class of LP problems known as network flow
models.
■ These models have special mathematical features that permit
management scientists to develop very efficient, unique solution
methods (variations of traditional simplex procedure).
■ Detailed description of methods is contained on the companion
website.
■ Text focuses on model formulation and solution with Excel and
QM for windows.

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-3

The Transportation Model: Characteristics

■ A product is transported from a number of sources to a number of

destinations at the minimum possible cost.
■ Each source is able to supply a fixed number of units of the
product, and each destination has a fixed demand for the
product.
■ The linear programming model has constraints for supply at each
source and demand at each destination.
■ All constraints are equalities in a balanced transportation
model where supply equals demand.
■ Constraints contain inequalities in unbalanced transportation
models where supply does not equal demand.

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-4

Transportation Model Example
Problem Definition and Data
How many tons of wheat to transport from each
grain elevator to each mill on a monthly basis in
order to minimize the total cost of transportation?
Grain Elevator Supply Mill Demand
1. Kansas City 150 A. Chicago 200
2. Omaha 175 B. St. Louis 100
3. Des Moines 275 C. Cincinnati 300
Total 600 tons Total 600 tons

Transport Cost from Grain Elevator to Mill ($/ton)

Grain Elevator A. Chicago B. St. Louis C. Cincinnati
1. Kansas City $6 $8 $ 10
2. Omaha 7 11 11
3. Des Moines 4 5 12

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Transportation Model Example
Transportation Network Routes

Figure 6.1 Network of Transportation Routes for Wheat Shipments

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Transportation Model Example
Model Formulation
xij = tons of wheat transported from grain elevator i, ( i = 1, 2, 3)
to mill j, (j = A, B, C).

Minimize Z = $6x1A + 8x1B + 10x1C + 7x2A + 11x2B + 11x2C +

4x3A + 5x3B + 12x3C
subject to:
x1A + x1B + x1C = 150
x2A + x2B + x2C = 175
x3A + x3B + x3C = 275
x1A + x2A + x3A = 200
x1B + x2B + x3B = 100
x1C + x2C + x3C = 300
xij  0
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Transportation Model Example
Computer Solution with QM for Windows (1 of
3)

Exhibit 6.7
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Transportation Model Example
Computer Solution with QM for Windows (2 of 3)

Exhibit 6.8
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Transportation Model Example
Computer Solution with QM for Windows (3 of 3)

Exhibit 6.9
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-10
The Transshipment Model
Characteristics
■ Extension of the transportation model.
■ Intermediate transshipment points (distribution centers or
warehouses) are added between the sources and destinations.
■ Items may be transported from:
 Sources through transshipment points to destinations
 One source to another
 One transshipment point to another
S1 T1
 One destination to another D1
 Directly from sources to destinations S T2
2
 Some combination of these

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-11

 Transshipment Model Example
Problem Definition and Data
Suppose wheat is harvested at two farms in:
 Nebraska (300 tons)

 Colorado (300 tons)

Before being shipped to three mills (200, 100, 300 tons), the
wheat is shipped to three grain elavators in:
 Kansas City

 Omaha

 Des Moines

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Hall 6-12
Transshipment Model Example
Problem Definition and Data
Extension of the transportation model in which
intermediate transshipment points are added between
sources and destinations.
Shipping Costs
Grain Elevator
Farm 3. Kansas City 4. Omaha 5. Des Moines
1. Nebraska $16 10 12
2. Colorado 15 14 17

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 Formulating the LP Model
 Now, objective function will also include the
shipping costs from farms to grain elavators.
 There will be 3 groups of constranits:
1. Supply constraints for the farms.
2. Demand constraints for the mills.
3. Conservation of flow constraints: at each
transshipment point, the amount of grain
shipped IN must also be shipped OUT.
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Hall 6-14
Transshipment Model Example
(Farms, Grain Elavators, Mills)

Figure 6.3 Network of Transshipment

Routes
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Transshipment Model Example
Model Formulation
xij = amount transported from i to j , i = 1, 2, 3
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
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Transshipment Model Example
Computer Solution (3 of 3)

Figure 6.4
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The Assignment Model
Characteristics

■ Special form of linear programming model similar to the

transportation model.
■ Supply at each source and demand at each destination is
limited to one unit.

■ In a balanced model supply equals demand.

■ In an unbalanced model supply does not equal demand.

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Assignment Model Example
Problem Definition and Data
Problem: Assign four teams of officials to four
games in a way that will minimize the total distance
traveled by the officials. Supply is always one team of
officials, demand is for only one team of officials at
each game.

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-19

Assignment Model Example
Model Formulation
xij = 1 if i is assigned to j, 0 otherwise. i= A, B, C, D, j=R, A, C, D

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 xij : 0 or 1
xBR + xBA + xBD + xBC = 1
xCR + xCA + xCD + xCC = 1
xDR + xDA + xDD + xDC = 1
xAR + xBR + xCR + xDR = 1
xAA + xBA + xCA + xDA = 1
xAD + xBD + xCD + xDD = 1
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Assignment Model Example
Computer Solution with QM for Windows (1 of
2)

Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall Exhibit 6.16 6-21
Assignment Model Example
Computer Solution with QM for Windows (2 of 2)

Exhibit 6.17
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 6-22
Example Problem Solution
Transportation Problem Statement
A concrete company transports concrete from three
plants to three construction sites. Determine the linear
programming model formulation and solve using QM:
Construction site
Plant A B C Supply (tons)
1 $8 $5 $6 120
2 15 10 12 80
3 3 9 10 80
Demand (tons) 150 70 100

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Example Problem Solution
Model Formulation
Minimize Z = $8x1A + 5x1B + 6x1C + 15x2A + 10x2B + 12x2C
+3x3A + 9x3B + 10x3C
subject to:
x1A + x1B + x1C = 120
x2A + x2B + x2C = 80
x3A + x3B + x3C = 80
x1A + x2A + x3A  150
x1B + x2B + x3B  70
x1C + x2C + x3C  100
xij  0

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 Transportation Problem

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Hall 6-25
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice
Hall 6-26
 Example: Tina’s Tailoring

Tina's Tailoring has five idle tailors and four

custom garments to make. The estimated time (in
hours) it would take each tailor to make each
garment is shown in the next slide. (An 'X' in the
table indicates an unacceptable tailor-garment
assignment.)

Tailor
Garment 1 2 3 4 5
Wedding gown 19 23 20 21 18
Clown costume 11 14 X 12 10
Admiral's uniform 12 8 11 X 9
Bullfighter's outfit X 20 20 18 21

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 Example: Tina’s Tailoring

Formulate an integer program for

determining the tailor-garment
assignments that minimize
the total estimated time spent making
the four garments.
No tailor is to be assigned more than one
garment and each garment is to be
worked on by only one tailor.

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Tina’s Tailoring

 Define the decision variables

xij = 1 if garment i is assigned to tailor j
= 0 otherwise.
Number of decision variables =
[(number of garments)(number of tailors)]
- (number of unacceptable assignments)
= [4(5)] - 3 = 17

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Tina’s Tailoring

 Define the objective function

Minimize total time spent making
garments:
Min 19x11 + 23x12 + 20x13 + 21x14 + 18x15
+ 11x21 + 14x22 + 12x24 + 10x25 + 12x31 +
8x32 + 11x33 + 9x35 + 20x42 + 20x43 + 18x44
+ 21x45

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Tina’s Tailoring

 Define the Constraints

Exactly one tailor per garment:
1) x11 + x12 + x13 + x14 + x15 = 1
2) x21 + x22 + x24 + x25 = 1
3) x31 + x32 + x33 + x35 = 1
4) x42 + x43 + x44 + x45 = 1

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Tina’s Tailoring

 Define the Constraints (continued)

No more than one garment per tailor:
5) x11 + x21 + x31 < 1
6) x12 + x22 + x32 + x42 < 1
7) x13 + x33 + x43 < 1
8) x14 + x24 + x44 < 1
9) x15 + x25 + x35 + x45 < 1
Nonnegativity: xij > 0 for i = 1, . . ,4 and j =
1, . . ,5

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Zeron Shelving

The Northside and Southside facilities of Zeron

Industries supply three firms (Zrox, Hewes,
Rockrite) with customized shelving for its
offices. They both order shelving from the same
two manufacturers, Arnold Manufacturers and
Supershelf, Inc.
Currently weekly demands by the users are 50 for
Zrox, 60 for Hewes, and 40 for Rockrite. Both
Arnold and Supershelf can supply at most 75
units to its customers.
Additional data is shown on the next slide.

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Zeron Shelving

Because of long standing contracts based on past

orders, unit costs from the manufacturers to the
suppliers are:

Zeron N Zeron S
Arnold 5 8
Supershelf 7 4

The costs to install the shelving at the various

locations are:

Zrox Hewes Rockrite

Thomas 1 5 8
Washburn 3 4 4

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Zeron Shelving

 Network Representation
ZROX

Zrox 50
5 1
Zeron
75 ARNOLD
Arnold
N 5
8 8
Hewes 60
HEWES

7 3
Super Zeron
WASH 4
75 Shelf S
BURN
4 4 Rock-
Rite 40

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Zeron Shelving

 Linear Programming Formulation

• Decision Variables Defined
xij = amount shipped from manufacturer i to supplier j
xjk = amount shipped from supplier j to customer k
where i = 1 (Arnold), 2 (Supershelf)
j = 3 (Zeron N), 4 (Zeron S)
k = 5 (Zrox), 6 (Hewes), 7 (Rockrite)
• Objective Function Defined
Minimize Overall Shipping Costs:
Min 5x13 + 8x14 + 7x23 + 4x24 + 1x35 + 5x36 + 8x37
+ 3x45 + 4x46 + 4x47

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Zeron Shelving

 Constraints Defined
Amount Out of Arnold: x13 + x14 < 75
Amount Out of Supershelf: x23 + x24 < 75
Amount Through Zeron N: x13 + x23 - x35 - x36 - x37 = 0
Amount Through Zeron S: x14 + x24 - x45 - x46 - x47 = 0
Amount Into Zrox: x35 + x45 = 50
Amount Into Hewes: x36 + x46 = 60
Amount Into Rockrite: x37 + x47 = 40

Non-negativity of Variables: xij > 0, for all i and j.

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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Example: Zeron Shelving

 Optimal Solution
ZROX
Zrox 50
50

5
75 1
Zeron
75 ARNOLD
Arnold
N 5 25

8 8
Hewes 60
HEWES
35
7 3 4
Super Zeron
WASH 40
75 Shelf 4 S
BURN
75 4 Rock-
Rite 40

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Who Does What?

An electrical contractor pays his subcontractors a

fixed fee plus mileage for work performed. On a given
day the contractor is faced with three electrical jobs
associated with various projects. Given below are the
distances between the subcontractors and the projects.
Projects
Subcontractor A B C
Westside 50 36 16
Federated 28 30 18
Goliath 35 32 20
Universal 25 25 14
How should the contractors be assigned to minimize
total mileage costs?

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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 Example: Who Does What?

 Network Representation
50
West. A
36
Subcontractors 16 Projects
28
30
Fed.
Fed. B
18
35 32

Gol.
Gol. C
20
25 25
Univ.
14
© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide
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 Example: Who Does What?
 Linear Programming Formulation

Min 50x11+36x12+16x13+28x21+30x22+18x23
+35x31+32x32+20x33+25x41+25x42+14x43
s.t. x11+x12+x13 < 1
x21+x22+x23 < 1 Agents
x31+x32+x33 < 1
x41+x42+x43 < 1
x11+x21+x31+x41 = 1 Tasks
x12+x22+x32+x42 = 1
x13+x23+x33+x43 = 1
xij = 0 or 1 for all i and j
© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide
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 Example: Who Does What?

 The optimal assignment is:

Subcontractor Project Distance

Westside C 16
Federated A 28
Goliath (unassigned)
Universal B 25
Total Distance = 69 miles

© 2004 Thomson/South-Western Slide

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