Methods of finding initial Basic Feasible Solutions

Methods of finding initial Basic Feasible Solutions

There are several methods available to obtain an initial basic feasible solution of a transportation problem. We discuss here only the following three. For finding the initial basic feasible solution total supply must be equal to total demand.

Method:1North-West Corner Rule (NWC)

It is a simple method to obtain an initial basic feasible solution. Various steps involved in this method are summarized below.

Step 1: Choose the cell in the north- west corner of the transportation Table10.1 and allocate as much as possible in this cell so that either the capacity of first row (supply)is exhausted or the destination requirement of the first column(demand) is exhausted. (i.e) x₁₁ = min(a₁,b₁)

Step 2: If the demand is exhausted (b₁ < a₁), move one cell right horizontally tothe second column and allocate as much as possible.(i.e) x₁₂= min (a₁ –x₁₁, b₂)

If the supply is exhausted (b₁ > a₁), move one cell down vertically to the second row and allocateas much as possible.(i.e)x₂₁ = min (a₂,b₁ – x₁₁)

If both supply and demand are exhausted move one cell diagonally and allocate as much as possible.

Step 3: Continue the above procedure until all the allocations are made

Example 10.1

Obtain the initial solution for the following problem

Solution:

Here total supply = 5+8+7+14=34, Total demand = 7+9+18=34

(i.e) Total supply =Total demand∴The given problem is balanced transportation problem.

∴ we can findan initial basic feasible solution to the given problem.

From the above table we can choose the cell in the North West Corner. Here the cell is (1,A)

Allocate as much as possible in this cell so that either the capacity of first row is exhausted or the destination requirement of the first column is exhausted.

i.e. x₁₁ = min (5,7) = 5

Reduced transportation table is

Now the cell in the North west corner is (2, A)

Allocate as much as possible in the first cell so that either the capacity of second row is exhausted or the destination requirement of the first column is exhausted.

i.e. x₁₂ = min (2,8) = 2

Reduced transportation table is

Here north west corner cell is (2,B) Allocate as much as possible in the first cell so that either the capacity of second row is exhausted or the destination requirement of the second column is exhausted.

i.e. x₂₂ = min (6,9) = 6

Reduced transportation table is

Here north west corner cell is (3,B).

Allocate as much as possible in the first cell so that either the capacity of third row is exhausted or the destination requirement of the second column is exhausted.

i.e. x₃₂ = min (7,3) = 3

Reduced transportation table is

Here north west corner cell is (3,C) Allocate as much as possible in the first cell so that either the capacity of third row is exhausted or the destination requirement of the third column is exhausted.

i.e. x₃₃ = min (4,18) = 4

Reduced transportation table and final allocation is x₄₄ = 14

Thus we have the following allocations

Transportation schedule : 1→ A, 2→A, 2→B, 3→B, 3→C, 4→C

The total transportation cost.

= (5 × 2) + (2 × 3) +(6 × 3)+(3 × 4)+(4 × 7) + (14 × 2)

= Rs.102

Example 10.2

Determine an initial basic feasible solution to the following transportation problem using North West corner rule.

Here O_i and D_j represent i^th origin and j^th destination.

Solution:

Given transportation table is

Total Availability = Total Requirement

∴ The given problem is balanced transportation problem.

Hence there exists a feasible solution to the given problem.

First allocation:

Second allocation:

Third Allocation:

Fourth Allocation:

Fifth allocation:

Final allocation:

Transportation schedule : O₁→ D₁, O₁→D₂, O₂→D₂, O₂→D₃, O₃→D₃, O₃→D₃.

The transportation cost

= (6 × 6)+(8 × 4)+(2 × 9)+(14 × 2)+(1 × 6)+(4 × 2) =Rs.128

Method:2 Least Cost Method (LCM)

The least cost method is more economical than north-west corner rule,since it starts with a lower beginning cost. Various steps involved in this method are summarized as under.

Step 1: Find the cell with the least(minimum) cost in the transportation table.

Step 2: Allocate the maximum feasible quantity to this cell.

Step:3: Eliminate the row or column where an allocation is made.

Step:4: Repeat the above steps for the reduced transportation table until all the allocations are made.

Example 10.3

Obtain an initial basic feasible solution to the following transportation problem using least cost method.

Here O_i and D_j denote i^th origin and j^th destination respectively.

Solution:

Total Supply = Total Demand = 24

∴ The given problem is a balanced transportation problem.

Hence there exists a feasible solution to the given problem.

Given Transportation Problem is:

The least cost is 1 corresponds to the cells (O₁, D₁) and (O₃, D₄)

Take the Cell (O₁, D₁) arbitrarily.

Allocatemin (6,4) = 4 units to this cell.

The reduced table is

The least cost corresponds to the cell (O₃, D₄). Allocate min (10,6) = 6 units to this cell.

The reduced table is

The least costis 2 corresponds to the cells (O₁, D₂), (O₂, D₃), (O₃, D₂), (O₃, D₃)

Allocate min (2,6) = 2 units to this cell.

The reduced table is

The least cost is 2 corresponds to the cells (O₂, D₃), (O₃, D₂), (O₃, D₃)

Allocate min ( 8,8) = 8 units to this cell.

The reduced table is

Here allocate 4 units in the cell (O₃, D₂)

Thus we have the following allocations:

Transportation schedule :

O1→ D1, O1→D2, O2→D3, O3→D2, O3→D4

Total transportation cost

=  (4×1)+ (2×2)+(8×2)+(4×2)+(6×1)

=  4+4+16+8+6

=Rs. 38.

Example 10.4

Determine how much quantity should be stepped from factory to various destinations for the following transportation problem using the least cost method

Cost are expressed in terms of rupees per unit shipped.

Solution:

Total Capacity = Total Demand

∴ The given problem is balanced transportation problem.

Hence there exists a feasible solution to the given problem.

Given Transportation Problem is

First Allocation:

Second Allocation:

Third Allocation:

Fourth Allocation:

 Fifth Allocation:

Sixth Allocation:

Transportation schedule :

T→ H, T→P, B→C, B→H, M→H, M→K

The total Transportation cost = ( 5×8) + (25×5)+ (35×5) + (5×11)+ (18×9) + (32×7)

=  40+125+175+55+162+224

=  â‚¹ 781

Method:3 Vogel’s Approximation Method(VAM)

Vogel’s approximation method yields an initial basic feasible solution which is very close to the optimum solution.Various steps involved in this method are summarized as under

Step 1: Calculate the penalties for each row and each column. Here penalty means the difference between the two successive least cost in a row and in a column .

Step 2: Select the row or column with the largest penalty.

Step 3: In the selected row or column, allocate the maximum feasible quantity to the cell with the minimum cost.

Step 4: Eliminate the row or column where all the allocations are made.

Step 5: Write the reduced transportation table and repeat the steps 1 to 4.

Step 6: Repeat the procedure until all the allocations are made.

Example 10.5

Find the initial basic feasible solution for the following transportation problem by VAM

Solution:

Here ∑a_i = ∑b_j = 950

(i.e) Total Availability =Total Requirement

∴The given problem is balanced transportation problem.

Hence there exists a feasible solution to the given problem.

First let us find the difference (penalty) between the first two smallest costs in each row and column and write them in brackets against the respective rows and columns

Choose the largest difference. Here the difference is 5 which corresponds to column D₁ and D₂. Choose either D₁ or D₂ arbitrarily. Here we take the column D₁ . In this column choose the least cost. Here the least cost corresponds to (S₁, D₁) . Allocate min (250, 200) = 200units to this Cell.

The reduced transportation table is

Choose the largest difference. Here the difference is 5 which corresponds to column D₂. In this column choose the least cost. Here the least cost corresponds to (S₁, D₂) . Allocate min(50,175) = 50 units to this Cell.

The reduced transportation table is

Choose the largest difference. Here the difference is 6 which corresponds to column D₂. In this column choose the least cost. Here the least cost corresponds to (S₂, D₂) .

Allocate min(300,175) = 175 units to this cell.

The reduced transportation table is

Choose the largest difference. Here the difference is 4 corresponds to row S₂. In this row choose the least cost. Here the least cost corresponds to (S₂, D₄) . Allocate min(125,250) = 125 units to this Cell.

The reduced transportation table is 

The Allocation is

Thus we have the following allocations:

Transportation schedule :

S₁→ D₁, S₁→D₂, S₂→D₂, S₂→D₄, S₃→D₃, S₃→D₄

This initial transportation cost

= (200 × 11) + (50 ×13) + (175 × 18) + (125 ×10) + (275 ×13) + (125 ×10)

=  â‚¹ 12,075

Example 10.5

Obtain an initial basic feasible solution to the following transportation problem using Vogel’s approximation method.

Solution:

Here ∑a_i = ∑b_j = 80 (i.e) Total Availability =Total Requirement

∴The given problem is balanced transportation problem.

Hence there exists a feasible solution to the given problem.

First Allocation:

Second Allocation:

Third Allocation:

Fourth Allocation:

Fifth Allocation:

Sixth Allocation:

Thus we have the following allocations:

Transportation schedule :

A→ I, A→II, A→III, A→IV, B→I, C→IV, D→II

Total transportation cost:

= ( 6 × 5)+ ( 6 + 1)+ (17 × 3)+ ( 5 × 3)+ (15 × 3) + (12 × 3)+ (1 9 ×1)

= 30 + 6 + 51 + 15 + 45 + 36 + 19

= ₹ 202