Rachel Sundusky is the manager of the South-Atlantic office of the Stateline Shipping and Transport Company. She is in the process of negotiating a new shipping contract with Polychem, a company that manufactures chemicals for industrial use. Polychem wants Stateline to pick up and transport waste products from its six plants to three waste desposal sites. Rachel is very concerned about this proposed arrangement. The chemical wastes that will be hauled can be hazardous to humans and the environment if they leak. In addition, a number of towns and communities in the region where the plants are located prohibit hazardous materials from being shipped through their municipal limits, Thus, not only will the shipments have to be handled carefully and transported at reduced speeds, they will also have to traverse circuitous troutes in many cases.

Rachel has estimated the cost of shipping a barrel of waste from each of the six plants to each of the three waste disposal sites as shown in the following table:

Waste Disposal Site
Plant Whitewater Los Canos Duras
Kingsport $12 $15 $17
Danville 14 9 10
Macon 13 20 11
Selma 17 16 19
Columbus 7 14 12
Allentown 22 16 18

1. In Excel or other suitable program, develop a model for shipping the waste directly from the 6 plants to the 3 waste disposal sites.
2. Solve the model you developed in #1 (above) and clearly describe the results.
3. In Excel, or other suitable program, develop a transshipment model in which each of the plants and disposal sites can be used as intermediate points.
4. Solve the model you developed in #3 (above) and clearly describe the results.
5. Interpret the results and draw conclusions that address the question posed in the case problem. What are teh limits of the study? Write at least one paragraph.