Follow the instructions of Prob. 8.2-17 for the transportation problem formulated in Prob. 8.1-8a.

Prob. 8.2-17

Reconsider the transportation problem formulated in Prob. 8.1-7a

(a) Use each of the three criteria presented in Sec. 8.2 to obtain an initial BF solution, and time how long you spend for each one. Compare both these times and the values of the objective function for these solutions.

(b) Obtain an optimal solution for this problem. For each of the three initial BF solutions obtained in part (a), calculate the percentage by which its objective function value exceeds the optimal one.

(c) For each of the three initial BF solutions obtained in part (a), interactively apply the transportation simplex method to obtain (and verify) an optimal solution. Time how long you spend in each of the three cases. Compare both these times and the number of iterations needed to reach an optimal solution.

Prob. 8.1-7a

(a) Formulate this problem as a transportation problem by constructing the appropriate parameter table