Plants A, B, C, and D produce the same item that is demanded by customers W, X, Y, and Z. Customer demand and plant capacity are shown in the bottom row and rightmost column in the table. The cost to ship one unit between each combination of plants and customers is also shown in the table. The corporation wishes to minimize the total transportation costs of this assignment problem. Use the table to answer the following question(s) .
$\begin{array} { | c | c | c | c | c | c | } \hline & \mathbf { W } & \mathbf { X } & \mathbf { Y } & \mathbf { Z } & \text { Total Supply } \\\hline \text { A } & \$ 3 & \$ 6 & \$ 4 & \$ 2 & 22,000 \\\hline \text { B } & \$ 7 & \$ 10 & \$ 8 & \$ 6 & 19,000 \\\hline \text { C } & \$ 10 & \$ 13 & \$ 11 & \$ 9 & 14,000 \\\hline \text { D } & \$ 12 & \$ 15 & \$ 13 & \$ 11 & 15,000 \\\hline \text { Total Demand } & 25,000 & 15,000 & 18,000 & 12,000 & \\\hline\end{array}$
-What is a suitable constraint?

Question

Plants A, B, C, and D produce the same item that is demanded by customers W, X, Y, and Z. Customer demand and plant capacity are shown in the bottom row and rightmost column in the table. The cost to ship one unit between each combination of plants and customers is also shown in the table. The corporation wishes to minimize the total transportation costs of this assignment problem. Use the table to answer the following question(s) .

\begin{array} { | c | c | c | c | c | c | } \hline & \mathbf { W } & \mathbf { X } & \mathbf { Y } & \mathbf { Z } & \text { Total Supply } \\\hline \text { A } & \$ 3 & \$ 6 & \$ 4 & \$ 2 & 22,000 \\\hline \text { B } & \$ 7 & \$ 10 & \$ 8 & \$ 6 & 19,000 \\\hline \text { C } & \$ 10 & \$ 13 & \$ 11 & \$ 9 & 14,000 \\\hline \text { D } & \$ 12 & \$ 15 & \$ 13 & \$ 11 & 15,000 \\\hline \text { Total Demand } & 25,000 & 15,000 & 18,000 & 12,000 & \\\hline\end{array}

-What is a suitable constraint?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The suitable constraint should be to ensure that the total supply from Plants A, B, C, and D to customers W, X, Y, and Z does not exceed the respective total demands. Therefore, choice D is the correct constraint as it sums up the total supply from each plant to each customer and sets it less than or equal to the respective total demand.

Plants A, B, C, and D Produce the Same Item