Use the solver in Excel to find the number of units to ship from each factory to each customer that minimizes the total cost.
Formulate the model
To formulate this transportation problem, answer the following three questions.
- What are the decisions to be made? For this problem, we need Excel to find out how many units to ship from each factory to each customer. (in yellow)
- What are the constraints on these decisions? Each factory has a fixed supply and each customer has a fixed demand. (in light blue)
- What is the overall measure of performance for these decisions? The overall measure of performance is the total cost of the shipments, so the objective is to minimize this quantity. (in dark blue)
Name the following ranges:
| Range Name | Cells |
|---|---|
| UnitCost | C4:E6 |
| Shipments | C10:E12 |
| TotalIn | C14:E14 |
| Demand | C16:E16 |
| TotalOut | G10:G12 |
| Supply | I10:I12 |
| TotalCost | I16 |
And insert the following functions :
Solve the model
Enter the solver parameters:
The optimal solution is:
