A chemical company manufactures three chemicals: A, B, and C. These chemicals are produced via two production processes: 1 and 2. Running process 1 for an hour costs $400 and yields 300 units of A, 100 units of B, and 100 units of C. Running process 2 for an hour costs $100 and yields 100 units of A and 100 units of B. To meet customer demands, at least 1000 units of A, 500 units of B, and 300 units of C must be produced daily.
a. Use Solver to determine a daily production plan that minimizes the cost of meeting the company’s daily demands.
b. Confirm graphically that the daily production plan from part a minimizes the cost of meeting the company’s daily demands.
c. Use SolverTable to see what happens to the decision variables and the total cost when the hourly processing cost for process 2 increases in increments of $0.50. How large must this cost increase be before the decision variables change? What happens when it continues to increase beyond this point?