Transportation Problems

Transportation problem

Transportation problems are the mishaps in the transport sector majorly between the points of origins of goods and services and their destinations.  This mainly occurs in demand and supply of goods and services with the idea of significantly minimizing the cost and time to be incurred. However these problems can be solved through north-west corner rule, lowest cost entry method and Vogel’s approximation method with feasible solution, basic feasible solutions and optimal solution to them. To clearly infer this, let us consider the below description.

Assume that a manufacturing company X manufactures its products in the city K and has various depots in towns T, M and L. To transport these products from the plant in city X to these depots shall involve various channels or outlets and they are going to cost the manufacturer. Because the manufacturer has a minimum capacity each outlet can manage, the problem now comes in minimizing the cost in order to maximize the profits. The Transportation method is used to solve this linear programming problem frequently experienced in the movement of goods and services from their manufacturer to various destination points. The main objective is to minimize the transport and maximize the profits.

Unbalanced transport problem

Unbalanced transportation problem is a transport crisis when there are excesses; here, the total supply doesn’t equal the total demand in the market. For example if we refer to our manufacturer X  above in a city K, the products he supplies in towns T, M and L, may not meet the demand which may be high due to various factors like the rise in prices of the alternative goods or an anticipated price increase. To solve this, the manufacture may introduce ‘replica’ suppliers and dealers as a temporary measure till the situation normalizes to meet the excesses for it costs nothing as these don’t exist.

Maximization transport problem

Maximization transport problem occurs where the cost of transports supersedes the production costs. Various destination points are at different distances from the manufacturer. Therefore the maximum transport got depends on the minimum cost of transport. In our above case of a manufacturer X with destinations T L and M. from the warehouse K in the city to the outlets, it’s likely to cost differently depending on the mode of transport and the distances. Here the cost will vary hence varying the whole profit patterns. Also the amount of goods delivered to each destination is likely to affect the margins of profit.

Degeneracy transport problem

Degeneracy transportation problem is cue that occurs in transport when the channel lacks a destination or destination lack a channel creating an ‘emptiness’ or a ‘void’. This is solved by matching the number of transport channel sand the destinations. For the case of our manufacturer X above with destinations or outlets T, L and M, with channels A, B, C.  While drawing the distribution table, it may occur that some cell is not fixed or not matching with the transport routine. This may be caused maybe by the breakdown in any of the channel or delay. To solve this, procedures of arbitrary adjustments ought to be done without causing an itch in any other area to avoid inconveniences especially delay for this is likely to result into another transportation problem.

In conclusion, the transportation problems are real and rarely are they solved using mechanical or manual means for they are hectic. Mostly, computer based software are used for delivery of up to date solutions. For example the LP software gives to the time for the manual solutions and the most convenient is the general algebraic modeling system which provides a high level an easy complex problems presentation.