Deck 7: Business Analytics With Shipment Models

Question 1

Transshipment models are usually less complicated than transportation models.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A transportation model usually consists of two layers, while transshipment models include one or no layers.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Transshipment models cannot be formulated as linear programming models.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Decision variables for the transportation model can be defined as the amount of units to be transported from a given source to a given destination during the planning period.

Question 5

The transportation model is always constructed with a minimization objective function.

Question 6

When the total supply of the product generated by all sources equals the total demand consumed by all destinations, then transportation constraints can be formulated as equality constraints.

Question 7

If the problem is infeasible, then the modeler can create a dummy destination in order to equalize the demand and supply.

Question 8

Any value assigned to the dummy source row as part of the final solution is considered to be unmet demand.

Question 9

A zero value for the shadow price of a constraint indicates that the constraint is binding.

Question 10

A zero value for the shadow price of a constraint indicates that the reduction or increase in the value of the right-hand-side value of that constraint will not impact the objective function.

Question 11

In the transportation model, shadow prices are effective in the ranges defined by the allowable increase and allowable decrease values.

Question 12

The transshipment model is an extension of the transportation model.

Question 13

Which of the following layers is part of a transportation model?

A) Sources
B) Destinations
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 14

Which of the following is not a source layer in the transportation model?

A) Machines
B) Plants
C) Cities
D) Warehouses
E) All of the above can serve as source layer in the transportation model.

Question 15

Which of the following is not a destination layer in the transportation model?

A) Machines
B) Warehouses
C) Cities
D) All of the above can serve as source layer in the transportation model.

Question 16

A transshipment problem with four layers may include:

A) Sources.
B) Destinations.
C) Both sources and destinations.
D) Neither sources nor destinations.

Question 17

Which of the following is an element of network diagrams used to represent shipment models?

A) Nodes
B) Decision variables
C) The objective function
D) All of the above

Question 18

Which of the following is not an element of network diagrams used to represent shipment models?

A) Nodes
B) Arcs
C) The objective function
D) All of the above are contained in a network diagram.

Question 19

In a network diagram, nodes can represent:

A) Locations.
B) Cities.
C) Warehouses.
D) Machines.
E) Any of the above.

Question 20

In a network diagram, nodes can represent:

A) Sources.
B) Destinations.
C) Either a source or a destination.
D) Neither a source nor a destination.

Question 21

The objective function of the transportation model may seek to minimize the overall cost of transportation, which can be calculated as:

A) The scalar product of the quantities shipped from a given source to a given destination and their respective transportation costs per unit.
B) The sum of the transportation costs per unit from a given source to a given destination.
C) The sum of the total cost from a given source to a given destination.
D) All of the above

Question 22

The objective function of the transportation model may seek to maximize an objective function, which can be calculated as:

A) The scalar product of the quantities shipped from a given source to a given destination and their respective profits per units.
B) The sum of the profits per unit from a given source to a given destination.
C) The sum of the total profit from a given source to a given destination.
D) All of the above

Question 23

The constraints in a transportation model stipulate that:

A) The sum of units from all sources delivered to a destination is greater than or equal to the demand of the destination.
B) The sum of units to all destinations originated from a source is less than or equal to the available units in that source.
C) The sum of units delivered from a given source to a given destination is non-negative.
D) All of the above.

Question 24

Which of the following is a notable characteristic of the transportation model?

A) The objective function seeks to minimize the overall transportation cost.
B) Technological coefficients are equal to one.
C) Contribution coefficients are equal to one.
D) Constraints are always expressed as equality constraints.

Question 25

Which of the following situations results in an infeasible transportation model?

A) When the total supply for the product generated by all sources equals the total demand consumed by all destinations
B) When the total supply for the product generated by all sources is greater than the total demand consumed by all destinations
C) When the total supply for the product generated by all sources is less than the total demand consumed by all destinations
D) None of the above

Question 26

The modeler can assign a very high value to the shipment cost for the units originating from:

A) Dummy destinations.
B) Dummy sources.
C) Original destinations.
D) Original sources.

Question 27

When trying to enforce that a shipment cannot be sent from a certain source to a certain destination, the modeler can:

A) Assign a very small number (e.g., 0) to the shipment cost for that route.
B) Assign a very large number to the shipment cost for that route.
C) Add a dummy source.
D) Any of the above

Question 28

Regarding the demand constraints of the transportation model, the shadow price indicates how much it will cost to ship a marginal container:

A) To a respective destination.
B) From a given source.
C) From a given source to a respective destination.
D) Any of the above

Question 29

In the transportation model, the reduced costs indicate:

A) The cost-per-unit change so that a shipment can be assigned to routes that do not have any assignment in the current solution.
B) The cost-per-unit change so that a shipment cannot be assigned to routes that currently have assignments.
C) Either a or b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 30

The transshipment model seeks to minimize the total transportation cost:

A) From plants to warehouses.
B) From warehouses to retail stores.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 31

The objective function of the transshipment models represents:

A) The scalar product of quantities shipped from a given plant to a given warehouse with their respective transportation costs per unit.
B) The scalar product of quantities shipped from a given warehouse to a given retail store with their respective transportation costs per unit.
C) The sum of two scalar products indicated in a and b above.
D) None of the above represents the objective function of the transshipment models.

Question 32

Which of the following is not a constraint found in a transshipment model?

A) Constraints that ensure that the sum of units from all warehouses delivered to stores is greater than or equal to the demands in each destination
B) Constraints that ensure that the sum of units to all warehouses originating from each plant is less than or equal to the available units in that plant
C) Constraints that ensure that the amount of units entering each warehouse is equal to the amount of units leaving the warehouse
D) Constraints that ensure that the sum of units from all warehouses delivered to stores is less than or equal to the demands in each destination
E) Non-negativity constraints

Question 33

Which of the following statements is true when comparing the Microsoft Excel templates of the transportation model to the Microsoft Excel template of the transshipment model?

A) The objective function cell in the transportation model contains the value of one scalar product, while the objective function in the transshipment model has two scalar products.
B) The value of objective function of the transportation model is always greater than the value of the objective function in the transshipment model.
C) The decision maker always seeks to minimize the cost in the transportation model, yet may seek to optimize the cost in the transshipment model.
D) All of the above

Question 34

Which of the following statements is true when comparing the Solver setup of the transportation model to the setup of the transshipment model?

A) The "By Changing Variable Cells" box of the transportation model has one set of decision variables, while the transshipment model has two sets of variables.
B) The transportation model has one set of constraints, while the transshipment model has two sets of constraints.
C) As in the transportation model, there is a third constraint in the transshipment model that ensures that, for each warehouse, the amount of units received from plants equals the units delivered to retail stores.
D) All of the above

Question 35

The implementation of radio frequency identification technology allows decision makers to have instant access to:

A) Delivery times.
B) Resource utilization.
C) Geographic coverage.
D) Delivery statuses.
E) All of the above