A manufacturing firm has three plants and wants to find the most efficient means of meeting the requirements of its four customers. The relevant information for the plants and customers, along with shipping costs in dollars per unit, are shown in the table below:
$$\text{Customer (requirement)}\
\begin{array} { l c c c c }
&&&Customer ~3 &Customer ~4\
\text { Factory (capacity) } & \text { Custcmer } 1 ( 25 ) & \text { Customer } 2 ( 50 ) & ( 125 ) & ( 75 ) \ \text { A (100) } & \$ 15 & \$ 10 & \$ 20 & \$ 17 \ B ( 75 ) & \$ 20 & \$ 12 & \$ 19 & \$ 20 \ \text { C (100) } & \$ 22 & \$ 20 & \$ 25 & \$ 14 \end{array}$$
Note: This question requires Solver.
Formulate the problem in Solver and find the optimal solution. What is the minimum total cost to meet all customer requirements?
A) $4,475
B) $4,500
C) $4,775
D) $4,950
E) $5,150

Question

A manufacturing firm has three plants and wants to find the most efficient means of meeting the requirements of its four customers. The relevant information for the plants and customers, along with shipping costs in dollars per unit, are shown in the table below:
$$\text{Customer (requirement)}\
\begin{array} { l c c c c } 
&&&Customer ~3 &Customer ~4\
\text { Factory (capacity) } & \text { Custcmer } 1 ( 25 ) & \text { Customer } 2 ( 50 ) & ( 125 ) & ( 75 ) \ \text { A (100) } & \$ 15 & \$ 10 & \$ 20 & \$ 17 \ B ( 75 ) & \$ 20 & \$ 12 & \$ 19 & \$ 20 \ \text { C (100) } & \$ 22 & \$ 20 & \$ 25 & \$ 14 \end{array}$$
Note: This question requires Solver.
Formulate the problem in Solver and find the optimal solution. What is the minimum total cost to meet all customer requirements?
A) $4,475
B) $4,500
C) $4,775
D) $4,950
E) $5,150

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The minimum total cost to meet all customer requirements is $4,475. This solution is obtained by formulating the problem as a linear programming model and solving it using Solver, a tool in Excel that finds the optimal solution by adjusting the values in the decision variable cells. The objective is to minimize the total shipping cost while meeting the demand of each customer and not exceeding the capacity of each factory.

A Manufacturing Firm Has Three Plants and Wants to Find