Quantitative Analysis for Management, 13/e

9.1 The Transportation Problem

The transportation problem deals with the distribution of goods from several points of supply (origins or sources) to a number of points of demand (destinations). Usually, we are given a capacity (supply) of goods at each source, a requirement (demand) for goods at each destination, and the shipping cost per unit from each source to each destination. An example is shown in Figure 9.1. The objective of such a problem is to schedule shipments so that total transportation costs are minimized. At times, production costs are also included.

Figure 9.1 Network Representation of a Transportation Problem, with Costs, Demands, ...