Transportation Problem

Transport a commodity from several sources to several destinations. No. of sources : m, No. of destinations : n Fixed supply at each source : si Fixed demand at each destination : dj Unit cost of transportation from source i to destination j : cij (different for each pair) cij

si

dj

LP Formulation
Decision Variables: xij : Quantity shipped from source i to destination j. Z = cij.xij j xij = si i = 1...m i xij = dj j = 1...n xij 0 Although an LP, this problem has a very special structure. A-matrix has only values 0 and 1. x11 x12 x13 Each column has only two ones. Has a block diagonal structure. 1 1 1 Minimize subject to:

x21 x22 x23 0 0 0

0 1 0 0

0 0 1 0

0 0 0 1

1 1 0 0

1 0 1 0

1 0 0 1

Exploiting the Special Structure

Number of variables and constraints can be quite large. 50 sources, 200 destinations : 10000 variables, 250 constraints. Simplex method will be very inefficient. Using the special structure, develop a specialized version of the algorithm for this problem. Problem is feasible only if si = dj , i.e. the problem is balanced. If not balanced, it can be made balanced by
Adding a dummy source if sj < dj Adding a dummy sink if sj > dj Transportation cost from/to a dummy node is zero. Why? What does transportation from/to a dummy node represent? Unfilled demand or spare supply.

Finding a basic feasible solution

How many basic variable? m+n? Tot # of constraints Are all constraints independent? If we ignore any one constraint, it will automatically be satisfied if the rest are satisfied. (balanced cases) 5 10 No. of basic variables = m+n-1
x11 How to get a basic feasible solution?
All constraints must be satisfied. No more than m+n-1 variables should be non-zero.
North West Corner Rule. Vogels Approximation Method.

x12 x22

8 7

x21

Such a solution is easy to find manually by inspection.

No need for simplex tableau. Use a m n Transportation tableau.

North West Corner Rule

Select the cell in the north west corner of the table. Set this variable to highest possible value. 12 10 14 This will satisfy either a row or a column 10 2 Cross out this row or column 12 Adjust supply/demand of uncrossed column or row Continue operation with remaining matrix

20 26
2 12 6 20 6 18 20

The Dual Solution

How many dual variables? m+n (from as many constraints related to demand and supply nodes) One for each supply constraint : ui One for each demand constraint : vj Equality constraints : unrestricted dual variables. v1 = 0 v2 = -20 v2 = -25 cij How to find the dual variables? 75 55 u1 = 75

40 Reduced cost of basic variables is zero. 35 u1 = 60 cij = cij (ui+vj) = 0 50 u1 = 75 For basic variable, we must have ui+vj = cij We have m+n unknowns and m+n-1 equations. ( ref Lec 5, slide 1) Value of one unknown can be arbitrarily decided. Let v1 = 0, and compute u1. Given u1, v2 can be computed, and so on.

Reduced Cost and Pivoting

Having computed the dual variables, the reduced cost can be computed for each non-basic variable. cij = cij (ui+vj) Select the non-basic variable with most negative reduced cost.
cij
75

v1 = 0

v2 = -20
55

v2 = -25
55

5
60

u1 = 75 u1 = 60

0 -45

40
75

35 20 50

cij

30

u1 = 75

How to perform the Pivot?

What are the changes necessary in other variables if the value of this variable is increased? For increasing the value of this variable, a basic variable in that row must be decreased. This decrease must be accompanied by an increase in the corresponding column. We can form a cycle of cells, where
if the values of alternate cells are increased/decreased the solution remains balanced.

xij

10

+ -

75

v1 = 0 v2 = -20 v3 = -25 55 u1 = 75
40 35

+ 6 12 - 20

u1 = 60 u1 = 75

-45 30

50

cij
Solution is balanced if values are increased/decreased by a fixed amount d for each cell. Cells with decreasing value are called Donor Cells.

Cells with increasing value are called Recipient Cells.

What is the impact on cost for d = 1? Cost increases by cij for recipient cells, and decreases for donor cells.

Net change in cost:

(30+35+55) - (50+40+75) = -45 What is the reduced cost of non-basic cell? 30 -(0+75) = -45. Net change in Z if non-basic variable is increased by one unit. (cj - zj)

10

+ -

2 12

12 2 16 10

+ 6 - 20

10

How much can we increase the value of non-basic variable? All variables must remain non-negative. Value is decreasing for donor cells. d cannot be greater than the value in any donor cell. Find the donor cell with smallest value of xij. This donor cell is the out-going basic variable. Increase/Decrease values by this amount. New Basic Feasible solution. Z has decreased by d.cij. Continue until optimal, i.e. cij > 0 for all non-basic variables.

Transportation Simplex Algorithm

Step 0 (Construction of initial solution) Construct an initial basic feasible solution using North-West Corner rule, and set up the Transportation Simplex tableau. Step 1 (Computation of dual solution and reduced costs) Compute the dual variable values using the fact that cij = ui+vj for basic variables. Using the dual values, compute reduced cost for the non-basic cells. Step 2 (Optimality test and selection of incoming variable) Select the cell with most negative reduced cost as incoming basic variable. If all cells have non-negative reduced costs, current solution is optimal, STOP. Otherwise go to Step 3. Step 3 (Pivot Operation) Form a cycle of donor/recipient cells starting and ending at the incoming cell. Identify the donor cell with smallest allocation as the outgoing variable, and increase/decrease allocation for recipient/donor cells accordingly. Go back to Step 1.