Applied Mathematical Sciences, Vol. 9, 2015, no.

19, 915 - 927

HIKARI Ltd, www.m-hikari.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.12988/ams.2015.4121018

New Methodology to Find Initial Solution for

Transportation Problems:

a Case Study with Fuzzy Parameters

Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar

Federal Institute of Paran and Positivo University, Street Joo Negro

Post box 1285, Curitiba- Paran, 80230-150, Brazil

Brbara de Cssia Xavier Cassins Aguiar

Federal University of Paran - DEGRAF, Jardim das Amricas

Post box 19081, Curitiba- Paran, 81531-980, Brazil

Volmir Eugnio Wilhelm

Federal University of Paran - DEGRAF, Jardim das Amricas

Post box 19081, Curitiba- Paran, 81531-980, Brazil

Copyright 2014 Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar et al. This is an open access article distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new algorithm for finding a feasible initial solution to
transportation problems. The MOMC Method (Maximum Supply with Minimum
Cost) as it was called, was compared with three classical methods: Corner
Northwest, Minimum Cost and Vogel, obtaining significant results (better than the
methods shown). A numerical example was presented to a rigorous understanding
of the algorithm, and the results in a case study with a transportation problem with
fuzzy parameters after the application of a classification technique showed great
computational advantage (higher processing speed and less use of memory).

Keywords: Fuzzy Transportation Problem, MOMC Method, Feasible Initial

Solution
916 Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar et al.

1 Introduction
The transportation problems are a very broad study class within the Linear
Programming. In mid 1941 the Professor Hitchcock [8] formalized originally one
of the first basic problems of transportation. Appa in 1973 [1] discussed several
variations of the transportation problem. The solution to many of these problems
can be found using the simplex method, for example with teachers Charnes and
Cooper [4] in 1954, and Dantzig Thapa [5] in 1963 and Arsham and Khan [2] in
1989, but because of its very particular mathematical structure, new approaches
have been proposed and studied.
The simplex method is an iterative algorithm, it requires an initial feasible
solution to the problem. The four main classical methods, very widespread in the
literature for finding an initial solution are: the north-west corner method (see
Zionts [20] in 1974), Vogel method (see Murty [10] in 1983), the Cost Minimum
method (see Puccinni and Pizzolato [11] in 1987) and Russell's method (see Ruiz
and Landn [14] in 2003) each with its own advantages, disadvantages and
particularities. However researchers as Rodrigues [12] has proposed and studied
new approaches to find an initial solution to transportation problems.
Armed with an initial solution, the new goal becomes: find out if this solution
is optimal or not. Several heuristics as in Kaur and Kumar [9] in 2011, Silva [16]
in 2012, Samuel and Venkatachalapathy [15] in 2013 and Ebrahimnejad [6] in
2014, have been developed to find an optimal solution to transportation problems,
from an initial feasible solution. These new heuristics have gotten increasingly
satisfactory results (more efficient algorithms) and with various practical
applications. Another branch of very exploited Transportation problems, and that
has become increasingly important in scientific circles, are the problems involving
inaccuracies in the collection and treatment of measures of cost factors, supply
and demand, and that many of these measures are uncontrollable, requiring then
the use of fuzzy logic in dealing and development of these new techniques. The
pioneers in the study of fuzzy environment in decision-making were the
researchers Zadeh [19] and Bellmann and Zadeh [3] in 1965 and 1970
respectively. Following this work, new authors as Tanaka and Asai [18] in 1984,
Rommelfanger, Wolf and Hanuscheck [13] in 1989, Fang Hu, Wang and Wu [7]
in 1999, Sudha, Margaret and Yuvarani [17] in 2014 have developed fuzzy linear
programming techniques to transportation problems.
However, the initial solution has been little exploited, probably because
efficiency of the traditional methods and also by extensive computational power
of modern computers, which easily rotate the simplex method to a problem with a
large number of variables and constraints.
This paper proposes a new methodology to find a feasible initial solution to
transportation problems. The Algorithm of MOMC Method (Maximum Supply
with Minimum Cost) will be illustrated in the following sections, a case study
with a trapezoidal fuzzy transportation problem after applying a ranking technique
will be explored and a comparison of this method with the classical methods will
be outlined.
New methodology to find initial solution for transportation problems 917

2 Fuzzy Transportation Problem

Following the basics concepts of a fuzzy number are illustrated, the general
model of a fuzzy transportation problem in their tabular form (in a frame) and its
linear programming model.

2.1 Number Fuzzy

According Narayanamoorthy, Saranya and Maheswari [11] in 2013, a real

fuzzy number is a fuzzy subset of the real number R with membership function

satisfying the following conditions:

1. is continuous from R to the closed interval [0, 1];

2. is strictly increasing and continuous on [a1, a2];

3. is strictly decreasing and continuous on [a3, a4].

2.2 Trapezoidal Fuzzy Number

According to yet Narayanamoorthy, Saranya and Maheswari [11] in 2013, a

fuzzy number is said to be a trapezoidal fuzzy number if its
membership function is given by:
0 <



=


0 >

Being represented graphically as in the following Figure 2.1:

0
FIGURE 2.1: Trapezoidal Number Fuzzy
918 Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar et al.

The following Table 2.1 illustrates the first general model of a fuzzy
transportation problem in a tabular form.

TABLE 2.1: Tabulated Form for to Fuzzy Transportation Problem

Destinations
1 Supply
1 11 1 1
Sources
1
Demand 1

Inserted in linear programming, the fuzzy transportation model deserves

special attention, having its own characteristics and a general model:

~ m n ~ ~
Min C c
i 1 j 1
ij . x ij

n ~ ~
s.a. : x
j 1
ij ai , i 1,..., m ( oferta )

m ~ ~
x
i 1
ij bj , j 1,..., n ( demanda)
m ~ n ~
ai
i 1
b
j 1
j

~ ~
x ij 0 , i 1,..., m e j 1,..., n

In this model, represent transportation costs from place of origin i to

destination j, is the offer of origin i, is the demand j , e is the quantity to
be transported from origin i to destination j.

3 Initial Solution for Transportation Problems

There are three classic models very worked in the literature to find an initial
solution to transportation problems. The North-west Corner Method, the
Minimum Cost Method and Vogel Method.

3.1 The North-west corner method

The North-west corner method (can be evaluated in Zionts [20]) as it is known

does not consider transport costs in decision-making, depending only on the
supply and demand of the origins and destinations respectively and having relatively
New methodology to find initial solution for transportation problems 919

simple computational development. In general your solution is not as efficient

(near optimal), but its application is a feasible solution.

3.2 Minimum Cost Method

The Minimum Cost Method as the name suggests is based on an analysis of

transport costs and also the examination of the values of supply and demand,
aiming a closer initial solution of the optimal than that provided by the Northwest
Corner Method. A detailed study of the method can be seen in Puccini and
Pizzolato [11] in 1987.

3.3 Vogel Method

In Vogel method does not interest the transportation of lower cost, but the
transportation that has the greater penalty if you do not choose the lowest cost. In
this method, each transmission frame must be calculated for each row and each
column, the difference between the two lower cost, the result is called penalty. In
the column or row where the biggest difference occurs choose the cell, called
basic cell, which has the lowest value. The algorithmic process can be seen in
Murty [10] in 1983.

3.4 New Methodology

This paper proposes a new methodology to find a feasible initial solution to

transportation problems. The Maximum Supply Method with Minimum Cost or
MOMC will be named as described in the following algorithm.

3.4.1 The MOMC Algorithm

The following steps are illustrated to find a feasible initial solution for a
balanced transportation problem, that is, where the supply of origins is equal to
demand of destinations.

Step 1: Select i line with the highest supply ( ); If a tie, choose the line that has

the lowest cost;

Step 2: In line with the increased supply of step 1, choose the column with the
lowest cost ( ); If a tie, choose the column j with the highest demand;

Step 3: The cell intersection of the line (step 1) with the column (step 2) is
selected;
920 Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar et al.

Step 4: Allocate the maximum supply (quantity) of step 1 line to the cell ( )

selected, up to the amount of demand j column;

Step 5: Decrease of the supply (line i) and Demand (column j) the amount
allocated to the cell ( ) from step 4;

If demand < supply, then the demand is annulled;

If demand > supply, then the supply will be annulled;
If demand = supply, then the demand and the supply is annulled;

Step 6: Eliminate of the transportation model (Table), the column or line with
demand or supply annulled after step 5; If demand (column) and supply (line) are
zero simultaneously, then eliminate them;

Step 7: If there no more supply, end. Otherwise, return to step 1, starting the next
iteration.

4 Numerical Example
Right now we use the numerical example worked for Poonam, Abbas and
Gupta [12] in 2012. It is a fuzzy transportation problem with three sources and
four destinations as illustrated in the following Table 4.1.

TABLE 4.1: Fuzzy Transportation Problem with 3 Sources and 4 Destinations

FD1 FD2 FD3 FD4 Supply

FS1 (1,2,3,4) (1,3,4,6) (9,11,12,14) (5,7,8,11) (1,6,7,12)
FS2 (0,1,2,4) (-1,0,1,2) (5,6,7,8) (0,1,2,3) (0,1,2,3)
FS3 (3,5,6,8) (5,8,9,12) (12,15,16,19) (7,9,10,12) (5,10,12,17)
Demand (5,7,8,10) (1,5,6,10) (1,3,4,6) (1,2,3,4)

Poonam, Abbas and Gupta [12] in 2012 used the previous problem a Robust
Ranking Technique for the parameters (transport costs, supply and demand) fuzzy,
satisfying the properties: compensation, linearity and additivity. After ranking, the
transportation problem with fuzzy numbers has become a transportation problem
with crisp numbers as shown in the following Table 4.2:
New methodology to find initial solution for transportation problems 921

TABLE 4.2: Crisp Transport Problem with 3 Sources and 4 Destinations

FD1 FD2 FD3 FD4 Supply

FS1 2,5 3,5 11,5 7,7 6,5
FS2 1,7 0,5 6,5 1,5 1,5
FS3 5,5 8,5 15,5 9,5 11
Demand 7,5 5,5 3,5 2,5

From Table 4.2 above will be illustrated as finding an initial solution to the
transportation problem using MOMC algorithm. Lets consider how line 1, the
corresponding line source 1 (FS1), and consider how one column, the column
corresponding to the destination 1 (FD1). Below is illustrated the development of
the steps 7 of the first iteration.

Step 1: Select I line with the highest supply; If a tie, choose the line that has the
lowest cost:
The line with the highest supply (11) is the line 3.

Step 2: In line with the increased supply of step 1, choose the column with the
lowest cost ( ); If a tie, choose the column j with the highest demand:

The column of line 3 with lower cost (5.5) is the column 1.

Step 3: The cell intersection of the line (step 1) with the column (step 2) is
selected:
The corresponding cell is , as shown in Table 4.3 below.

TABLE 4.3: Choice of cell

FD1 FD2 FD3 FD4 Supply

FS1 2,5 3,5 11,5 7,7 6,5
FS2 1,7 0,5 6,5 1,5 1,5
FS3 5,5 8,5 15,5 9,5 11
Demand 7,5 5,5 3,5 2,5

Step 4: Allocate the maximum supply (quantity) of step 1 line to the cell selected,
up to the amount of demand j column:
The source 3 can offer 11 units, however the destination 1 requires 7.5 units.
So will be allocated 7.5 units from the origin to the destination 3. .

Step 5: Decrease of the supply and Demand the amount allocated to the cell from
step 4:
922 Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar et al.

The following Table 4.4 illustrates step 5.

TABLE 4.4: Step 5

FD1 FD2 FD3 FD4 Supply
FS1 2,5 3,5 11,5 7,7 6,5
FS2 1,7 0,5 6,5 1,5 1,5
FS3 5,5 8,5 15,5 9,5 11 7,5 = 3,5
Demand 7,5 7,5 = 0 5,5 3,5 2,5

Step 6: Eliminate of the transportation model (Table), the column or line with
demand or supply annulled after step 5; If demand (column) and supply (line) are
zero simultaneously, then eliminate them:
As the demand of the destination 1 was annulled, then leaves the table column
1, as shown in Table 4.5 below.

TABLE 4.5: Reduced Numerical Example

FD2 FD3 FD4 Supply

FS1 3,5 11,5 7,7 6,5
FS2 0,5 6,5 1,5 1,5
FS3 8,5 15,5 9,5 3,5
Demand 5,5 3,5 2,5

Step 7: If there no more supply, end. Otherwise, return to step 1, starting the next
iteration.
As there are still supply, return to step 1. The following Table 4.6 illustrates the
results of the application of MOMC Algorithm.

TABLE 4.6: Reduced Numerical Example

Iteration Cell
1 x31 = 7,5
2 x12 = 5,5
3 x34 = 2,5
4 x23 = 1,5
5 x13 = 1
6 x33 = 1

5 Results

Will be presented at this time the results of the application of the North-west
Corner Method, of Minimum Cost Method, Vogel method and MOMC method
for the numerical example of the previous section. Table 5.1 shows the results.
New methodology to find initial solution for transportation problems 923

TABLE 5.1: Results of Numerical Example

Mtodo do Mtodo do Mtodo Mtodo

Variveis Canto Custo de Vogel MOMC
Noroeste Mnimo
6,5 6,5 1 0
0 0 5,5 5,5
0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
0,5 1,5 0 0
0 0 0 1,5
0 0 1,5 0
0 1 6,5 7,5
5 4 0 0
3,5 3,5 3,5 1
2,5 2,5 1 2,5
Min C 138,7 134,5 123,5 121

The application of the Northwest Corner method shows the following results:
11 = 6,5, 21 = 1, 22 = 0,5, 32 = 5, 33 = 3,5 and 34 = 2,5. The other
variables are null. Soon the minimum cost function returns = 2,5 6,5 +
1,7 1 + 0,5 0,5 + 8,5 5 + 15,5 3,5 + 9,5 2,5 = 138,7.
The use of the Minimum Cost method presents the results: 11 = 6,5, 22 =
1,5, 31 = 1, 32 = 4, 33 = 3,5 and 34 = 2,5. The other variables have zero
value, and the minimum cost function returns = 2,5 6,5 + 0,5 1,5 +
5,5 1 + 8,5 4 + 15,5 3,5 + 9,5 2,5 = 134,5. This method was a better result
(lower cost) than the Northwest Corner Method, however, is still not the best.
The use of Vogel method yielded the following results: 11 = 1, 12 =
5,5, 24 = 1,5, 31 = 6,5, 33 = 3,5 e 34 = 1. The other variables are null. The
minimum cost function obtained as a result = 2,5 1 + 3,5 5,5 +
1,5 1,5 + 5,5 6,5 + 15,5 3,5 + 9,5 1 = 123,5. This method was a better
result than the Northwest Corner Method and method of Min Cost.
The MOMC method showed the following results: 12 = 5,5, 13 = 1, 23 =
1,5, 31 = 7,5, 33 = 1 e 34 = 2,5. The other variables are null. Thus, the
minimum cost function resulted in = 3,5 5,5 + 11,5 1 + 6,5 1,5 +
5,5 7,5 + 15,5 1 + 9,5 2,5 = 121, and the best feasible initial solution
between the four methods evaluated. This solution is also the optimal solution of
the problem.
924 Giancarlo de Frana Aguiar et al.

The great advantage of using MOMC method is not only a good approximation
(in the previous example has found the optimal solution) of the optimal solution,
but the computational time to solve problems. The following Table 5.2 shows a
comparison between the Vogel method and of MOMC method.

TABLE 5.2: Comparison of the Vogel method with the MOMC method

Vogel MOMC

Gain % MOMC
(1a iteration) (1a iteration)
Destinations
Problem

Sources

(Subtraction)
Operations

Operations
Logical

Logical
x

Scan Total Scan Total

cells cells

1 3x4 24 7 31 7 0 7 77,42
2 10 x 4 80 14 94 14 0 14 85,11
3 100 x 90 18.000 190 18.190 190 0 190 98,96
4 4.000 x 300 2.400.000 4.300 2.404.300 4.300 0 4.300 99,82

In this case study with three sources and four destinations, the Vogel method
Makes a reading in 12 horizontal cells, more 12 vertical cells to determine the two
smaller each row and each column of costs (a total of 24 cells). It performs three
logical operations (difference between the lowest costs) horizontal and 4 vertical
operations (a total of 7 operations). Performing in total 31 decisions, only the first
iteration.

The MOMC method done to the same problem a total of 7 decisions (3 vertical
scans 4 more horizontal and no logic operation). In this problem, analyzing the
first iteration MOMC method achieved a gain of approximately 77.42% in making
supply allocation decision. In a problem with 100 sources and 90 destinations, the
MOMC method achieved a gain of 98.96% in making supply allocation decision.
Computationally this is greater processing speed and less memory usage.

6 Conclusions
This paper presented a new algorithm called MOMC method. This method has
shown significant advantages in simplifying calculations and decision making to
find an initial solution to transportation problems.

In many worked examples by author so far, the MOMC method has proven
effective finding the optimal solution without the need for optimality algorithm.
From the computational point of view (higher processing speed and less memory
New methodology to find initial solution for transportation problems 925

usage), the example text could illustrate the efficiency of capacity MOMC method
with up to 99.82% gains even in the first iteration with respect to
Vogel method (one the most implemented according to the literature).

The next work will be the implementation (in language with graphical
programming interface), computer simulation of classical problems and compared
to most methods discussed in the literature.

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Received: December 23, 2014; Published: January 30, 2015