J OMO KENYATTA UNI VERSI TY OF AGRI CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

SMA 2472 : OPERATI ONS RESEARCH MAY 2014 ASSI GNMENT

THI RD YEAR FI RST SEMESTER FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ELECTRI CAL
COMPUTER ENGI NEERI NG
INSTRUCTIONS: ATTEMPT ALL THE QUESTIONS

Explain the characteristics and limitations of operation research techniques
Define the term linear programming and outline the steps followed when formulating a linear
programming model mathematically
Define the following terms as used in linear programming
Model
Objective function
Constraints
Feasible solution
Transportation problem
include another question on the introduction part
A farmer has of land on which to plant maize and beans. He has a work force of
and it takes to work on of maize and to work on 1
ha of beans. He has a capital of and 1 ha of maize requires $ 50 to cultivate while 1 ha of
beans to cultivate. Suppose that the farmer wishes to maximize the profit and
the profit per ha is maize and for beans. Set up a linear programming problem and
solve it graphically.

differentiate between weak duality and strong duality

Find the dual program of the following linear programming problem

Find the dual program of the following linear programming problem

Find the dual program of the following linear programming problem

State and explain the three main reasons for holding inventory analysis

Mr. Odongo is the inventory manager for office supplies in a large office supply warehouse.
The annual demand for paper punches is . The ordering cost is per order and
carrying(holding) cost is unit per year. Determine the expected ordering quantity

The demand rate of a particular item is 12,000 units per year. The set up cost per run is shs.350,000
and the holding costs are shs. 2.00 per unit per month. If no shortages are allowed and the replacement is
instantaneous determine;
The optimum run size
The optimum scheduling period
The minimum total expected annual cost

Explain the concept behind assignment problems, their application and how they can be
formulated.

) A company has fixed funds to undertake five projects through contractors. Five contractors
have already applied to do the job and each submitted a quotation for each project from which the
company has estimated the saving associated with allocating a given project to a specific contractor. The
figures are given in the table below and the companys policy is to give one project per contractor
projects
1 2 3 4 5
A
B
contractors C
D
E
3000
4000
4000
2500
2900
3700
2400
3200
3800
6200
4000
2700
3300
4000
4100
2800
2100
3000
3600
3400
4000
3600
3500
3600
3900

Determine who should be assigned which project and the maximum saving the company can
make.

Trucks at a single platform weigh-bridge arrive according to Poisson probability distribution. The
time required to weigh the truck follows an exponential probability distribution. The mean arrival rate is
12 trucks per day, and the mean service rate is 18 trucks per day. Determine the following:
i.) The probability that no trucks are in the system.
ii.) The average number of trucks waiting for service.
iii.) The average time a truck waits for weighing service to begin.
iv.) The probability that an arriving truck will have to wait for service.


A company has four factories and three warehouses located in market areas. The capacities
of supply points are [ 200 160 90 ] and the demands of the destination are
[ 180 120 150]. The cost associated with transporting one unit of the resource from a supply
point to a destination is as follows


By making the initial allocation , determine optimal allocation that minimises the transportation
cost


D1 D2 D3
S1 16 20 12
S2 14 8 18
S3 26 24 16