BULETINUL INSTITUTULUI POLITEHNIC DIN IAI

Publicat de
Universitatea Tehnic Gheorghe Asachi din Iai
Tomul LXI (LXV), Fasc. 1, 2015
Secia
AUTOMATIC i CALCULATOARE

DETERMINATION OF INITIAL BASIC FEASIBLE SOLUTION

OF A TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM: A TOCM-SUM
APPROACH
BY

AMINUR RAHMAN KHAN1,2, ADRIAN VILCU2, NAHID SULTANA3

and SYED SABBIR AHMED1

1
Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka-1342, Bangladesh,
Department of Mathematics
2
Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iai, Romnia,
Department of Management Engineering
3
Bangladesh University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh,
Department of Mathematics

Received: January 27, 2015

Accepted for publication: March 31, 2015

Abstract. A new heuristic for obtaining an initial basic feasible solution of

a transportation problem (TP) is introduced in this paper. The proposed method
is illustrated with a number of numerical examples. Comparison of findings
obtained by the new heuristic and the existing heuristics show that the method
presented herein gives a better result.
Key words: VAM; MMM; TOCM; HCDM; Pointer cost; Optimum solution.

2010 Mathematics Subject Classification: 90B50, 90C08.

Corresponding author; e-mail: aminurju@yahoo.com

40 Aminur Rahman Khan et al.

1. Introduction

The transportation problem is one of the oldest applications of linear

programming problems. The basic transportation problem was originally
developed by Hitchcock (1941). Efficient methods of solution derived from the
simplex algorithm were developed, primarily by Dantzig (1963) and then by
Charnes et al. (1953).
The problem of minimizing transportation cost has been studied since
long and is well known by Abdur Rashid et al. (2012), Aminur Rahman Khan
(2011; 2012), Hamdy (2007), Kasana and Kumar (2005), Sharif Uddin et al.
(2011), Md. Amirul Islam et al. (2012), Md. Main Uddin et al. (2013a; 2013b),
Md. Ashraful Babu et al. (2014a; 2014b), Mollah Mesbahuddin Ahmed et al.
(2014), Pandian & Natarajan (2010), Sayedul Anam et al. (2012), Shenoy et al.
(1991), Utpal Kanti Das et al. (2014a; 2014b). Several researchers have
developed alternative methods for determining an initial basic feasible solution
which takes costs into account. Well-known heuristics methods are North West
Corner Method (NWCM), Matrix Minima Method (MMM), Vogels
Approximation Method (VAM), Highest Cost Difference Method (HCDM),
Extremum Difference Method (EDM), TOCM-MMM Approach, TOCM-VAM
Approach, TOCM-EDM Approach, TOCM-HCDM Approach etc.
Reinfeld and Vogel (1958) introduced VAM by defining penalty as the
difference of lowest and next to lowest cost in each row and column of a
transportation table and allocate to the minimum cost cell corresponding to the
highest penalty. Kasana and Kumar (2005) proposed EDM where they define
the penalty as the difference of highest and lowest unit transportation cost in
each row and column and allocate as like as the VAM procedure. Aminur
Rahman Khan (2012) presented HCDM by defining pointer cost as the
difference of highest and next to highest cost in each row and column of a
transportation table and allocate to the minimum cost cell corresponding to the
highest three pointer cost. Sayedul Anam et al. (2012) determine the impact of
transportation cost on potato distribution in Bangladesh.
Kirca and Satir (1990) first transform the cost matrix to create what
they call the total opportunity cost matrix (TOCM). The TOCM is formed by
adding the row opportunity cost matrix (ROCM) and the column opportunity
cost matrix (COCM) where, for each row in the initial transportation cost
matrix, the ROCM is generated by subtracting the lowest cost in the row from
the other cost elements in that row and, for each column in the initial
transportation cost matrix, the COCM is generated by subtracting the lowest
cost in the column from the other cost elements in that column. Kirca and Satir
then essentially use the MMM with some tie-breaking rules on the TOCM to
generate a feasible solution to the transportation problem.
 Bul. Inst. Polit. Iai, t. LXI (LXV), f. 1, 2015 41

Mathirajan and Meenakshi (2004) applied VAM on the TOCM whereas

Md. Amirul Islam et al. applied EDM on TOCM (2012) and allocate to the
minimum cost cell corresponding to the highest distribution indicator and again
HCDM on TOCM (2012) and allocate to the minimum cost cell corresponding
to the highest two distribution indicator.
Here, in this paper, we calculate the pointer cost for each row and
column of the TOCM by taking sum of all entries in the respective row or
column and make maximum possible allocation to the lowest cost cell
corresponding to the highest pointer cost. Comparative study shows that the
proposed method gives better result in comparison to the other existing
heuristics available in the literature. We also coded the proposed heuristic by
using MATLAB 7.7.0 and the code is tested via many randomly generated
problems of different size to compare the solution obtained manually and using
MATLAB 7.7.0 code in order to prove the correctness of the code. Based on the
results we show that both the result has the same value when solving the
transportation problem.

2. Mathematical Representation of TP

The following notation is used for the mathematical representation of

the transportation problem. For each source point i (i = 1, 2, , m) and
destination point j (j = 1, 2, , n):
m = number of source;
n = number of destination;
ai = amount of supply at source i;
bj = amount of demand at destination j;
cij = unit transportation cost between source i and destination j;
xij= amount of homogeneous product transported from source i and
destination j.
Using the above notations, the transportation problem can be expressed in
mathematical term as finding a set of xijs, i = 1, 2, , m; j = 1, 2, , n to

m n
Minimize z = ci j xi j
i =1 j =1

n
subject to xi j = ai ; i = 1, 2 , ... ... , m
j =1
m
xi j = b j ; j =1, 2 , ... ... , n
i =1
xi j 0. for all i and j .
42 Aminur Rahman Khan et al.

3. Algorithm of Proposed Method

We term the proposed heuristic as TOCM-SUM Approach which

consists of the following steps:

Step 1 : Subtract the smallest entry of every row from each of the
element of the subsequent row of the transportation table and
place them on the right-top of the corresponding elements.
C ij C ik
C ij (
, where C ik = min C i1 , C i 2 , , C in , )
i = 1, 2 , ... ... , m
Step 2 : Apply the same operation on each of the column and place
them on the left-bottom of the corresponding elements.
(
C ij C kj C ij , where C kj = min C 1 j , C 2 j , , C mj , )
j =1, 2 , ... ... , n
Step 3 : Form the TOCM whose entries are the summation of right-
top and left-bottom elements of Steps 1 and 2.
C ij = (C ij C ik )+ (C ij C kj )
Step 4 : Determine the pointer cost for each row of the TOCM by
taking sum of all entries in the respective row and write them
in front of the row on the right.
Do the same for each column and place them in the bottom of
the cost matrix below the corresponding column.
Step 5 : Choose the highest pointer cost and observe the row or
column to which this corresponds. Then make maximum
possible allocation to the lowest cost cell corresponding to
selected row or column.
If tie occurs, choose the pointer cost arbitrarily.
Step 6 : No further consideration is required for the row or column
which is satisfied.
If both the row and column are satisfied at a time, assigned a
zero supply (or demand) to any one cell of the row or column
and delete both of them.
Step 7 : Calculate fresh pointer costs for the remaining sub-matrix
as in Step 4 and allocate following the procedure of Steps 5
and 6.
Continue the process until all rows and columns are satisfied.
Step 8 : Compute the total transportation cost using the original
transportation cost matrix and allocations obtained in step 5.
 Bul. Inst. Polit. Iai, t. LXI (LXV), f. 1, 2015 43

4. Novelty of our Algorithm

Although we have used TOCM of Kirca and Satir in our proposed

algorithm, we calculate the pointer cost (in Step 4) as the sum of all entries in
the respective row or column of the TOCM whereas Mathirajan and Meenakshi
calculate the penalty as the difference of lowest and next to lowest entries of the
TOCM and Md. Amirul Islam et al. calculate distribution indicator as the
difference of highest and lowest entries of the TOCM.

5. Material and Methods

Three sample cost minimizing transportation problem of different order

were selected at random to solve by using proposed TOCM-SUM Approach
and the existing heuristics. The Tables 1, 5 and 7 shows the costs cij, supplies ai,
demands bj of the sample transportation problems.
Example 1:
Table 1
Cost Matrix for the Numerical Example
Destination
1 2 3 4 Supply
1 3 6 8 4 20
Factory

2 6 1 2 5 28
3 7 8 3 9 17
Demand 15 19 13 18

Iteration 1: 3 is the minimum element of the first row, so we subtract 3

from each element of the first row. Similarly, we subtract 1 and 3 from each
element of the 2nd and 3rd row respectively and place all the differences on the
right-top of the corresponding elements in Table 2.
Iteration 2: In the same manner, we subtract 3, 1, 2 and 4 from each
element of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th column respectively and place the result on the
left-bottom of the corresponding elements in Table 2.
Table 2
Formation of Total Opportunity Cost Matrix
Destination
1 2 3 4 Supply
0 3 5 1
1 03 56 68 04 20
Factory

5 0 1 4
2 36 01 02 15 28
4 5 0 6
3 47 78 13 59 17
Demand 15 19 13 18
44 Aminur Rahman Khan et al.

Iteration 3: We add the right-top and left-bottom entry of each element

of the transportation table obtained in Iteration 1 and Iteration 2 and formed the
TOCM as in Table 3.

Table 3
Total Opportunity Cost Matrix (TOCM)
Destination
1 2 3 4 Supply
1 0 8 11 1 20
Factory

2 8 0 1 5 28
3 8 12 1 11 17
Demand 15 19 13 18

Iteration 4: We determine the pointer cost for each row of the TOCM
by taking the sum of all entries in the respective row and write them in front of
the row on the right (e.g. 0+8+11+1=20, 8+0+1+5=14 and 8+12+1+11=32).
Do the same for each column and place them in the bottom of the cost
matrix below the corresponding columns (e.g. 0+8+8=16, 8+0+12=20,
11+1+1=13 and 1+5+11=17).

Table 4
Initial Basic Feasible Solution Using TOCM-SUM Approach
1 2 3 4 Supply Row Pointer
11 9
1 20 20 9 9 1
0 8 11 1
19 9
2 28 14 13 13 13
8 0 1 5
4 13
3 17 32 31 -- --
8 12 1 11
Demand 15 19 13 18
16 20 13 17
Column
Pointer

16 20 -- 17
8 8 -- 6
8 -- -- 6

Iteration 5: Here, maximum pointer cost is 32 and minimum

transportation cost corresponding to this is 1 in the cell (3, 3). So we allocate 13
units (minimum of 17 and 13) to the cell (3, 3).
 Bul. Inst. Polit. Iai, t. LXI (LXV), f. 1, 2015 45

We adjust the supply and demand requirements corresponding to the

cell (3, 3) and since the demand for the cell (3, 3) is satisfied, we delete the third
column and calculate the pointer cost again for the resulting reduced
transportation table.
Iteration 6: In this stage, maximum pointer cost is 31 and minimum
transportation cost corresponding to this is 8 in the cell (3, 1). So we allocate 4
units (minimum of 4 and 15) to the cell (3, 1).
We adjust the supply and demand requirements corresponding to the cell
(3, 1) and since the supply for the cell (3, 1) is depleted, we delete the third row
and calculate the pointer cost again for the resulting reduced transportation table.
Iteration 7: In this case, maximum pointer cost is 13 and minimum
transportation cost corresponding to this is 0 in the cell (2, 2). So we allocate 19
units (minimum of 28 and 19) to the cell (2, 2).
We adjust the supply and demand requirements corresponding to the
cell (2, 2) and since the demand for the cell (2, 2) is satisfied, we delete the
second column and calculate the pointer cost again for the resulting reduced
transportation table.
Iteration 8: In this stage, maximum pointer cost is 13 and minimum
transportation cost corresponding to this is 5 in the cell (2, 4). So we allocate 9
units (minimum of 9 and 18) to the cell (2, 4).
We adjust the supply and demand requirements corresponding to the
cell (2, 4) and since the supply for the cell (2, 4) is depleted, we delete the
second row and calculate the pointer cost again for the resulting reduced
transportation table.
Iteration 9: Since only the first row is remaining with two unallocated
cell in this case, we allocate 11 units (minimum of 20 and 11) to the cell (1, 1)
and 9 units (minimum of 9 and 9) to the cell (1, 4).
We adjust the supply and demand requirements again and we see that
all supply and demand values are exhausted.
46 Aminur Rahman Khan et al.

Iteration 10: Since all the rim conditions are satisfied and total number
of allocation is 6. Therefore, the solution for the given problem is

x11 = 11 , x14 = 9 , x22 = 19 , x24 = 9 , x31 = 4 and x33 = 13 .

for a flow of 65 units with the total transportation cost

z = 11 3 + 9 4 + 19 1 + 9 5 + 4 7 + 13 3
= 200

Example 2:
Table 5
Cost Matrix for the Numerical Example
Destination
1 2 3 Supply
1 6 10 14 50
Source

2 12 19 21 50
3 15 14 17 50
Demand 30 40 55

Example 3:
Table 6
Cost Matrix for the Numerical Example
Warehouse
1 2 3 4 5 6 Supply
1 12 4 13 18 9 2 120
2 9 16 10 7 15 11 80
Factory

3 4 9 10 8 9 7 50
4 9 3 12 6 4 5 90
5 7 11 5 18 2 7 100
6 16 8 4 5 1 10 60
Demand 75 85 140 40 95 65

6. Result

Table 7 shows a comparison among the solutions obtained by our

proposed TOCM-SUM Approach and the existing methods and also with the
optimal solution by means of the above three sample examples and it is seen
that our proposed method gives better results.
 Bul. Inst. Polit. Iai, t. LXI (LXV), f. 1, 2015 47

Table 7
A Comparative Study of Different Solutions
Solution obtained by Total Transportation Cost
Ex. 1 Ex. 2 Ex. 3
Size of the matrix 34 33 66
North West Corner Method 273 1815 4285
Matrix Minima Method 231 1885 2455
Vogels Approximation Method 204 1745 2220
Extremum Difference Method 218 1695 2580
Highest Cost Difference Method 231 1885 2455
TOCM-MMM Approach 231 1795 2470
TOCM-VAM Approach 204 1695 2170
TOCM-EDM Approach 204 1695 2470
TOCM-HCDM Approach 255 1755 2470
TOCM-SUM Approach (Proposed) 200 1690 2170
Optimum Solution 200 1650 2170

We also solve randomly selected transportation problem of order 33, 34, 43,
44, 45, 46, 55, 66, 88, 1010, 1515 and see that the MATLAB code
presented by us gives identical result as the manual solution which proves the
correctness of our code.
7. Conclusion

In this paper, we developed an efficient algorithm for cost minimization

of transportation problem which is very easy to understand and provides better
result in comparison to the existing methods available in the literature. We also
present MATLAB 7.7.0 code for the developed method and test the correctness
of the code through different examples which proves that the code provides the
identical result.

Acknowledgements. The first author acknowledges the financial support

provided by the EU Erasmus Mundus Project-cLINK, Grant Agreement No: 212-
2645/001-001-EM, Action 2.

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METODA EURISTIC PENTRU DETERMINAREA UNEI SOLUII

FEZABILE PENTRU O PROBLEM DE TRANSPORT

(Rezumat)

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fost exemplificat pas cu pas pe o instan a problemei i performanele acestuia au fost
evaluate comparativ cu cele furnizate de ali algoritmi citai n literatura de specialitate,
pe seturi de date cu dimensiuni diferite.