Question

transportation model.

Can the model be adjusted or changed to look at different scenarios? If so, why is this important?

Answer 1

Answer. The Transportation Model Characteristic • A product is to be transported from a number of sources to a number of destinations at the minimum possible cost. Each source is able to supply a fixed number of units of the product, and each destination has a fixed demand for the produc

A transportation model addresses the concept of moving a thing from one place to another without change. It assumes that any damage en route has negative consequences, and so it's used to analyze transportation systems and find the most efficient route for resource allocation. The model requires only a few data elements:

• Origin of supply
• Destination
• Unit cost of shipping (per-unit cost)

The point is to develop an optimized shipping plan that comes with a minimum of cost; in other words, the path of least resistance. We use the model to determine the minimum cost to ship from several sources to several destinations. Because it is a model, we have to make some assumptions. These assumptions are:

• Items are homogeneous
• Shipping costs per unit are the same, no matter the quantity
• Only one route is chosen between origin and destination

he following table highlights the model in terms of supply and demand between warehouse and factory. Rows A, B, and C show the cost to ship one unit from that factory to Warehouses 1, 2, 3, or 4. The last row and last column each display supply and demand. Let's say each factory is supplying each warehouse with X number of widgets.

Now we need to find the most feasible distribution plan. We will use the intuitive approach, which looks at cost first. Looking at our table, we will start with the lowest cost and reallocate units to that cell. This will repeat until we've allocated all units.

1. Identify the lowest cost cell.
2. Allocate units to that cell, crossing out the row or column that's exhausted.
3. Find cells with the next lowest cost.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until units are allocated.

In our example, the lowest cost is Factory A, Warehouse 4 ($1). Factory A supplies 150, but demand is 200. We can only supply a maximum of 150 to this cell. Since we satisfied the supply, we can reduce the demand down to what's left: 200 - 150 = 50.

This process is repeated until the cost for shipping from multiple sources results in the lowest cost. We won't go through every iteration, but the final analysis might wind up looking like the following (bold numbers indicate supply):

Importance:

Transportation models play an important role in logistics and supply chain management for reducing cost and improvingservice. Therefore, the goal is to find the most cost effectiveway to transport the goods. Transportation problems areamong the most pressingstrategic developmentproblems inmany cities, often a major constraint for long-term urbandevelopment ingeneral, and very closely related to landdevelopment, economicstructure,energypolicies, andenvironmental quality.