Hi thanksmate-ga,

I have completed the analysis and discussion of the question you have
posed. The analysis was done in Excel, but I have brought everything
into text format including a description of all the variables used
etc.
Preliminary Definitions of Variables and Constraints:
x1d
x2d
x3d
x4d
x5d
x3r
x4r
x5r

length
length
length
length
length
length
length
length

of
of
of
of
of
of
of
of

fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric
fabric

Fabric 1
5
Demand, D
16500
Selling price, s
Variable cost, v
Purchase price, p
x1m
x2m
x3m
x4m
x5m
x1p
x2p
x3p
x4p
x5p

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity
quantity

1
2
3
4
5
3
4
5

produced
produced
produced
produced
produced
produced
produced
produced

on
on
on
on
on
on
on
on

dobbie looms
dobbie looms
dobbie looms
dobbie looms
dobbie looms
regular looms
regular looms
regular looms

Fabric 2

Fabric 3

Fabric 4

22000
0.99
0.66
0.8

7500
1.1
0.49
0.6

0.7
0.5
0.7

manufactured
manufactured
manufactured
manufactured
manufactured
purchased of
purchased of
purchased of
purchased of
purchased of

62000
0.86
0.55
0.7

of fabric 1 =
of fabric 2 =
of fabric 3 =
of fabric 4 =
of fabric 5 =
fabric 1 = D1
fabric 2 = D2
fabric 3 = D3
fabric 4 = D4
fabric 5 = D5

62000
1.24
0.51
0.7

Fabric

x1d
x1d
x3d + x3r
x4d + x4r
x5d + x5r
x1m
x2m
x3m
x4m
x5m

P1 = profit from fabric 1 = D1*s1 xm1*v1 xp1*p1

P2 to P5 are defined similarly
P = P1 + P2 + P3 + P4 + P5
Tda = time available on 8 dobbie looms in a month = 8*24*30 = 5760
hours
Tra = time available on 30 regular looms in a month = 30*24*30 = 21600
hours
m1d
m2d
m3d
m4d
m5d
m3r
m4r
m5r

=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=

production rate of fabric 1 on dobbie looms = 4.63 yards/hour

4.63 yards/hour
5.23 yards/hour
5.23 yards/hour
4.17 yards/hour
5.23 yards/hour
5.23 yards/hour
4.17 yards/hour

T1d = time required to produce x1d yards of fabric 1 on dobbie looms =

x1d/m1d

T2d to T5d and T3r to T5r are defined similarly

T d = T1d + + T5d
Tr = T3r + T4r + T5r
Time constraints
Td ≤ Tda
Tr ≤ Tra
Total manufactured quantity cannot be greater than demand
xm1
xm2
xm3
xm4
xm5

≤
≤
≤
≤
≤

D1
D2
D3
D4
D5

Quantity manufactured on each machine cannot be negative

xd1 ≥ 0
Similarly for others
The assignment is summarised in the table below
Fabric 1
Fabric 2
Fabric 3 Fabric
D
16500
22000
62000
7500
62000
xd
4668.8 22000
0
0
0
no of looms
1.4
6.6
0.0
0.0
xr
NA
NA
27707.81
7500
no of looms
7.4
2.0
xm
4668.8 22000
27707.81
7500
xp
11831.2 0
34292.19
0
P
3788.632
6820
34047.86

Fabric 5

0.0
62000
20.6
62000
0
5475

12400

Total P for all fabrics = 62531.49

1. Assignment of looms
1 dobbie loom to make fabric 1 throughout the month
6 dobbie looms to make fabric 2 throughout the month
8th dobbie loom to make fabric 1 for 40% of the time and fabric 2 for
60% of the time
7 regular looms to make fabric 3 throughout the month
2 regular looms to make fabric 4 throughout the month
20 regular looms to make fabric 5 throughout the month
30th regular loom to make fabric 3 for 40% of the time and fabric 5
for 60% of the time
2. Contribution to profit
The projected total contribution to profit is $ 62,531.49 per month
3. Additional loom time
Fabric 1 and fabric 3 are being purchased at a price greater than the

variable cost of manufacture. Hence it makes sense to install another

loom. Since the difference between purchase prise and variable cost is
greater for fabric 1 it would be prudent to allocate the new loom to
fabric 1. The linear programme is run again using 9 dobbie looms.
Tda would now becomes 6480 hours as a result of this change
The additional dobbie loom will be used to make fabric 1 for all 30
days. A total of 8002.4 yards of fabric 1 will be produced, the
additional quantity being 3333.6 yards. The additional contribution to
profit will be $ 466.70 per month.
4. Objective coefficient ranges
By expanding xm and xp the objective function can be rewritten as
∑ Di*(si pi) + ∑xid*(pi vi) + ∑xjr*(pj vj)
(where i varies from 1 to 5 and j from 3 to 5)
∑ Di*(si pi) is a constant
(pi vi) & (pj vj) are the objective coefficients.
The range of the objective coefficient refers to the range in which
the coefficient can be varied without changing the optimal solution.
Consider the objective coefficient associated with x3d which is 0.11.
If this is reduced to 0, then the optimal solution remains the same.
If it is increased to 0.13, then the optimal solution changes. Hence
the range of this objective coefficient is 0 to 0.12. A similar
analysis can be done for other objective coefficients.
5. Minimising total costs
The objective function consists of three parts.

Sales of the fabric

Cost of manufacture

Cost of purchase
The sales quantity is constant for each fabric. The total demand is
met either from purchase or from manufacture. As a result sales
revenue remains constant. Hence maximising profit is same as
minimising total cost (purchase plus manufacture). This is shown in
Sheet 4 of lp.xls, where the same optimal solution is reached for
minimising cost.
Converting the objective function in Question 4 to a cost function
∑ Di*pi + ∑xid*(vi pi) + ∑xjr*(vj pj)
(where i varies from 1 to 5 and j from 3 to 5)
The optimal solution is actually the same in value but with a negative
sign. The objective coefficient range has also changed to reflect the
negative of the maximisation problem range. The range for this problem
is 0 to 0.12.

Hopefully the discussion and calculations are clear - if you have any
trouble understanding the information above please do post a
clarification. This was certainly an interesting problem to work on!
Cheers!
answerguru-ga
Clarification of Answer by answerguru-ga on 20 Oct 2003 10:13 PDT
Hi again,
I just noticed that upon posting, some of the symbols didn't come out
right so here is a repost of those parts:
Time constraints
Td <= Tda
Tr <= Tra
Total manufactured quantity cannot be greater than demand
xm1
xm2
xm3
xm4
xm5

<=
<=
<=
<=
<=

D1
D2
D3
D4
D5

Quantity manufactured on each machine cannot be negative

xd1 >= 0
<and further down in the answer...>
4. Objective coefficient ranges
By expanding xm and xp the objective function can be rewritten as
(Summation) Di*(si pi) + (Summation)xid*(pi vi) +
(Summation)xjr*(pj vj)
(where i varies from 1 to 5 and j from 3 to 5)
(Summation) Di*(si pi) is a constant
(pi vi) & (pj vj) are the objective coefficients.
<then for question #5...>
Converting the objective function in Question 4 to a cost function
(Summation) Di*pi + (Summation)xid*(vi pi) + (Summation)xjr*(vj
pj)
(where i varies from 1 to 5 and j from 3 to 5)

Sorry about that :)

answerguru-ga
Request for Answer Clarification by thanksmate-ga on 20 Oct 2003 11:56 PDT
Very well done!
I'm impressed!
100% for you (and an extra tip) and I would be delighted if you would
answer my next question which I will post tomorrow for a similar
price. I hope you have time. The topic of my next question will also
be "Linear Programing / Decision Making Question".
Thanks!