Question: Please use Excel's Solver and include screenshots were needed! Thank you Assume a restaurant in Los Angeles has become popular nationwide over the years and

Please use Excel's Solver and include screenshots were needed! Thank you

Assume a restaurant in Los Angeles has become popular nationwide over the years and has started distributing its pasta and sauces to gourmet food stores around the country. It has set up a centralized facility in Los Angeles and has engaged the services of a transportation company to ship its items. The transportation company has a complex network, based on the consignments of several small businesses it carries. The cost (in dollars for 5 crates) of shipping between pairs of different cities in the Westward direction is shown below. If no information is available, it means that path is either not possible or not relevant. The restaurant owner wants to find the least expensive way to ship 5 crates to Omaha, Nebraska, which has emerged as the biggest consumption point.

From\To Cleveland Columbus Detroit Indianapolis Chicago St. Louis Omaha
  1. Los Angeles
80 90 - 180 250 - -
  1. Cleveland
- - 60 100 120 - -
  1. Columbus
- - 70 80 95 340 500
  1. Detroit
- - - - 70 - 400
  1. Indianapolis
- - - - - 250 -
  1. Chicago
- - - - - 180 300
  1. St. Louis
- - - - - - 200

Show how the above problem can be represented by a network model. Formulate a linear programming model in Excel with decision variables, constraints, and the objective function. Use Solver in Exel to find the optimal solution and provide an interpretation for the managers of the restaurant in Los Angeles. (Hint: It would be helpful to set the decision variables as binary i.e., 0 or 1 in the constraints in Solver.)

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related General Management Questions!