UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS

P. del Rosario Street Brgy. Sta. Cruz

Cebu City, Philippines 6000

COLLEGE OF COMMERCE
Department of Accountancy

Quantitative Techniques in Business Management

(BA46)

TTh 12:00-1:30

Problem No. 9 Page 466

Quantitative Approaches to Management 7th Edition
(By Levin, Rubin, Stinson and Gardner)

Ritchie Ian V. Carunungan

carununganritchieian@yahoo.com

Mr. Pepito Echavez

Instructor

September 7, 2010
I. Problem

The Friends of Africa have chartered an airplane to fly donated food to the Republic of
Zanimez whose residents urgently need food because of severe droughts. The food is
packaged in three different sized cartons. The type A cartons weigh 500 pounds and have a
volume of 200 cubic feet. Type B cartons weigh 700 pounds and have a volume of 350 cubic
feet. Type C cartons weigh 300 pounds and have a volume of 100 cubic feet. Currently, there
are 30, 40, and 50 cartons of the three types ready to be shipped, but the airplane has limited
capacity. The airplane’s forward cargo area can hold up to 8,000 pounds with a volume limit
of 3,000 cubic feet. The center cargo area can hold no more than 10,000 pounds or 4,000
cubic feet. The aft cargo area can hold up to 6,000 pounds or 2,500 cubic feet. In order to
preserve the trim of the aircraft, the weight loaded into the three cargo areas must be in
proportion to their load capacities. Formulate the linear programming problem to help the
Friends of Africa determine how many of each type carton should be carried in each of the
three cargo areas, so that the total weight carried is maximized.

II. Definition of the Problem

Type of Carton Weight (pounds) Volume (cubic feet)

A 500 200
B 700 350
C 300 100

Cargo Area Max Weight (pounds) Max Volume (cubic feet)

Forward 8000 3000
Center 10000 4000
Aft 6000 2500

Xz = zoo habitat
Xs = show area
Xra = restaurant area
Xre = retail
Xg = green areas
Xma = maintenance
Xw = walkways

III. Formulation
Objective Function

Maximize weight = 500[ XA1 + XA2 + XA3] + 700[XB1 + XB2 + XB3] + 300[XC1 + XC2 + XC3]
Subject to:

• cannot carry more of each of the 3 cartons than available

(1) XA1 + XA2 + XA3 ≤ 500

(2) XB1 + XB2 + XB3 ≤ 700

(3) XC1 + XC2 + XC3 ≤ 300

• weight capacity of each cargo area should be respected

(4) XA1 + XB1 + XC1 ≤ 8000

(5) XA2 + XB2 + XC2 ≤ 10000

(6) XA3 + XB3 + XC3 ≤ 6000

• volume capacity of each cargo area should be respected

(7) 200XA1 + 350XB1 + 100XC1 ≤ 3000

(8) 200XA2 + 350XB2 + 100XC2 ≤ 4000

(9) 200XA3 + 350XB3 + 100XC3 ≤ 2500

• the weight of the cartons in the respective cargo areas must be the same proportion of
that cargo area’s weight capacity to preserve the trim of the aircraft

[XA1 + XB1 + XC1]/8000 = [XA2 + XB2 + XC2]/10000 = [XA3 + XB3 + XC3]/6000

(10) 0.000125XA1 + 0.000125XB1 + 0.000125XC1 – 0.0001XA2 –

0.0001XB2 - 0.0001XC2 = 0
(11) 0.000125XA1 + 0.000125XB1 + 0.000125XC1 – 0.000167XA3 –
 0.000167XB3 - 0.000167XC3 = 0

IV. Computer Solution

V. Final Answer

VI. Sensitivity Analysis

VII. Conclusion and Recommendation