A Blend Example

A petroleum company produces three grades of motor oil super, premium, and extra from three components. The company
wants to determine the optimal mix of the three components in each grade of motor oil that will maximize profit. The
maximum quantities available of each component and their cost per barrel are as follows:
Component Maximum Barrels Available/Day Cost/Barrel
1 ,!"" #1$
$ $,%"" 1"
& &,!"" 1
To ensure the appropriate blend, each grade has certain general specifications. 'ach grade must have a minimum amount of
component 1 plus a combination of other components, as follows:
Grade Component Specifications Selling Price/Barrel
(uper At least !") of 1 #$&
*ot more than &") of $
+remium At least ") of 1 $"
*ot more than $!) of &
'xtra At least ,") of 1 1-
At least 1") of $
The company wants to produce at least &,""" barrels of each grade of motor oil.
.eghna /il 0ompany produces two grades of gasoline: regular and high octane. 1oth gasolines are produced by blending
two types of crude oil. Although both types of crude oil contains the two important ingredients required to produce both
gasolines, the percentage of important ingredients in each types of crude oil differs, as does the cost per gallon. The
percentage of ingredients A and 1 in each type of crude oil and the cost per gallon are shown:
0rude /il 0ost 2ngredient A 2ngredient 1
1 T3. 1" $") ,")
$ T3. 1! !") &")
'ach gallon of regular gasoline must contain at least ") of ingredient A, whereas each gallon high octane can contain at
most !") of ingredient 1. 4aily demand for regular and high5octane gasoline is -"",""" and !"",""" gallons, respectively.
6ow many gallons of each type of crude oil should be used in the two gasolines to satisfy daily demand at a minimum cost7
8ormulate an 9+ model.
The Mill Mountain Coffee Shop blends coffee on the premises for its customers. It sells three basic blends in 1-
pound bags, Special, Mountain Dark, and Mill Regular. It uses four different tpes of coffee to produce the
blends !ra"ilian, mocha, Columbian, and mild. The shop has the follo#ing blend recipe re$uirements%
!lend
Mi& Re$uirements Selling
'rice('ound
Special
)t least *+, Columbian, at least
-+, mocha
./.0+
Dark )t least /+, !ra"ilian, no more than
1+, mild
0.10
Regula
r
2o more than /+, mild, at least
-+, !ra"ilian
-.30
The cost of !ra"ilian coffee is .1.++ per pound, the cost of mocha is .1.30 per pound, the cost of Columbian is
.1.4+ per pound, and the cost of mild is .1.3+ per pound. The shop has 11+ pounds of !ra"ilian coffee, 3+
pounds of mocha, 5+ pounds of Columbian, and 10+ pounds of mild coffee a6ailable per #eek. The shop #ants
to kno# the amount of each blend it should prepare each #eek to ma&imi"e profit.
7ormulate a linear programming model for this problem.
The Metalco Compan desires to blend a ne# allo of *+ percent tin, -0 percent "inc, and 10 percent
lead from se6eral a6ailable allos ha6ing the follo#ing properties%
1.
The ob8ecti6e is to determine the proportions of these allos that should be blended to produce
the ne# allo at a minimum cost.
1ar3:s +et 8ood 0ompany produces canned cat food called .eow 0how and canned dog food called 1ow 0how.
The company produces the pet food from horse meat, ground fish, and a cereal additive. 'ach wee3 the company
has ,"" pounds of horse meat, -"" pounds of ground fish, and 1,""" pounds of cereal additive available to
produce both 3inds of pet food. .eow 0how must be at least half fish, and 1ow 0how must be at least half horse
meat. The company has $,$!" 1,5ounce cans available each wee3. A can of .eow 0how earns #".-" in profit,
and a can of 1ow 0how earns #".;, in profit. The company wants to 3now how many cans of .eow 0how and
1ow 0how to produce each wee3 in order to maximize profit.
8ormulate a linear programming model for this problem.
9a#ns :nlimited is a la#n care and maintenance compan. ;ne of its ser6ices is to seed ne# la#ns as #ell as
bare or damaged areas in established la#ns. The compan uses three basic grass seed mi&es it calls <ome 1,
<ome 1, and Commercial -. It uses three kinds of grass seed% tall fescue, mustang fescue, and bluegrass. The
re$uirements for each grass mi& are as follo#s%
Mi& Mi& Re$uirements
<ome 1

2o more than 0+, tall fescue
)t least 1+, mustang fescue
<ome 1


)t least -+, bluegrass
)t least -+, mustang fescue
2o more than 1+, tall fescue
Commercial
-

)t least 0+, but no more than 3+, tall fescue
)t least 1+, bluegrass
The compan belie6es it needs to ha6e at least 1,1++ pounds of <ome 1 mi&, 4++ pounds of <ome 1 mi&, and
1,*++ pounds of Commercial - seed mi& on hand. ) pound of tall fescue costs the compan .1.3+, a pound of
mustang fescue costs .1.5+, and a pound of bluegrass costs .-.10. The compan #ants to kno# ho# man
pounds of each tpe of grass seed to purchase to minimi"e cost.
7ormulate a linear programming model for this problem.
Staffing problem
) 'ost ;ffice re$uires different numbers of emploees on different das of the #eek. :nion rules state each
emploee must #ork 0 consecuti6e das and then recei6e t#o das off. 7ind the minimum number of emploees
needed.
The police department schedules R)! officers for 5-hour shifts. The beginning times for the shifts are 5.++ ).M.,
noon, *.++ '.M., 5.++ '.M., midnight and *.++ ).M. )n officer beginning a shift at one of these times #ork for the
ne&t 5 hours. During normal #eekend operations, the number of officers needed 6aries depending on the time of
the da. The department staffing guidelines re$uire the follo#ing minimum number of officers on dut%
Time of Da Minimum ;fficers on Dut
5.++ ).M. - noon 0
2oon = *.++ '.M. /
*.++ '.M. - 5.++ '.M. 1+
5.++ '.M. - Midnight 3
Midnight - *.++ ).M *
*.++ ).M -5.++ ).M /
Determine the number of R)! officers that should be scheduled to begin the 5-hours shifts each of the / times to
minimi"e the total number of officers re$uired.
.azy:s 4epartment (tore has decided to stay open on a $5hour basis. The store manager has divided the $5hour day into
six 5hour periods and determined the following minimum personnel requirements for each period:
Time Personnel eeded
.idnight5:"" A... ;"
:""5-:"" A... $1!
-:""5*oon $!"
*oon5:"" +... ,!
:""5-:"" +... &""
-:""5.idnight 1$!
+ersonnel must report for wor3 at the beginning of one of these times and wor3 - consecutive hours. The store manager
wants to 3now the minimum number of employees to assign for each 5hour segment to minimize the total number of
employees.
a. 8ormulate a linear programming model for this problem.
9arr >dison is the director of the Computer Center for !uckl College. <e no# needs to schedule the staffing of the center. It
is open from 5 ).M. until midnight. 9arr has monitored the usage of the center at 6arious times of the da, and determined
that the follo#ing numbers of computer consultants are re$uired%
Time of Day Minimum Number of Consultants
Required to Be on Duty
5 ).M.=noon *
2oon=* '.M. 5
* '.M.=5 '.M. 1+
5 '.M.=midnight /
T#o tpes of computer consultants can be hired% full-time and part-time. The full-time consultants #ork for 5 consecuti6e
hours in an of the follo#ing shifts% morning ?5 ).M.=* '.M.@, afternoon ?noon=5 '.M.@, and e6ening ?* '.M.=midnight@. 7ull-
time consultants are paid .1* per hour. 'art-time consultants can be hired to #ork an of the four shifts listed in the abo6e
table. 'art-time consultants are paid .11 per hour.
)n additional re$uirement is that during e6er time period, there must be at least 1 full-time consultants on dut for e6er
part-time consultant on dut. 9arr #ould like to determine ho# man full-time and ho# man part-time #orkers should #ork
each shift to meet the abo6e re$uirements at the minimum possible cost.
7ormulate a linear programming model for this problem.
A post office requires different numbers of full5time employees on different days of the wee3.
The number of full5time employees required on each day is given in following Table. <nion
rules state that each full5time employee must wor3 five consecutive days and then receive two
days off. 8or example, an employee who wor3s .onday to 8riday must be off on (aturday and
(unday. The post office wants to meet its daily requirements using only fulltime employees.
8ormulate an 9+ that the post office can use to minimize the number of full5time employees
who must be hired.
2n the post office example, suppose that each full5time employee wor3s - hours per day. Thus,
.onday=s requirement of 1% wor3ers may be viewed as a requirement of ->1%? @ 1&, hours.
The post office may meet its daily labor requirements by using both full5time and part5time
employees. 4uring each wee3, a full5time employee wor3s
- hours a day for five consecutive days, and a part5time employee wor3s hours a day for five
consecutive days. A
full5time employee costs the post office #1! per hour, whereas a part5time employee >with
reduced fringe benefits? costs the post office only #1" per hour. <nion requirements limit part5
time labor to $!) of wee3ly labor requirements.
8ormulate an 9+ to minimize the post office=s wee3ly labor costs.
>ach da, #orkers at the Aotham Cit 'olice Department #ork t#o /-hour shifts chosen from 11 ).M. to / ).M.,
/ ).M. to 11 '.M., 11 '.M. to / '.M., and / '.M. to 11 ).M. The follo#ing number of #orkers are needed during
each shift% 11 ).M. to / ).M.B10 #orkersC / ).M. to 11 '.M.B0 #orkersC 11 '.M. to / '.M.B11 #orkersC / '.M.
to 11 ).M.B/ #orkers. Dorkers #hose t#o shifts are consecuti6e are paid .11 per hourC #orkers #hose shifts
are not consecuti6e are paid .15 per hour. 7ormulate an 9' that can be used to minimi"e the cost of meeting the
dail #orkforce demands of the Aotham Cit 'olice Department.
Destern 7amil Steakhouse offers a 6ariet of lo#-cost meals and $uick ser6ice. ;ther than management, the
steakhouse operates #ith t#o full-time emploees #ho #ork 5 hours per da. The rest of the emploees are part-
time emploees #ho are scheduled for *-hour shifts during peak meal times. ;n Saturdas the steakhouse is
open from 11%++ ).M. to 1+%++ '.M. Management #ants to de6elop a schedule for part-time emploees that #ill
minimi"e labor costs and still pro6ide e&cellent customer ser6ice. The a6erage #age rate for the part-time
emploees is .*./+ per hour. The total number of full-time and part-time emploees needed 6aries #ith the time
of da as sho#n.
Time Total 2umber of >mploees 2eeded
11%++ ).M.-noon 4
2oon-1%++ '.M. 4
1%++ '.M.-1%++ '.M. 4
1%++ '.M.--%++ '.M. -
-%++ '.M.-*%++ '.M. -
*%++ '.M.-0%++ '.M. -
0%++ '.M.-/%++ '.M. /
/%++ '.M.-3%++ '.M. 11
3%++ '.M.-5%++ '.M. 11
5%++ '.M.-4%++ '.M. 3
4%++ '.M.-1+%++ '.M. 3
;ne full-time emploee comes on dut at 11%++ ).M., #orks * hours, takes an hour off, and returns for another *
hours. The other full-time emploee comes to #ork at 1%++ '.M. and #orks the same *-hours-on, 1-hour-off, *-
hours-on pattern.
a. De6elop a minimum-cost schedule for part-time emploees.
b. Dhat is the total paroll for the part-time emploeesE <o# man part-time shifts are neededE :se the
surplus 6ariables to comment on the desirabilit of scheduling at least some of the part-time emploees for --
hour shifts.
Problem !allocation of time to courses"#
A student is planning the coming semester. 2n particular, he is attempting to allocate the wee3ly number of hours
of study to the individual courses he is ta3ing. 'ach hour of study will increase his mar3 by a certain quantity
>starting at zero?. Table shows the marginal improvements of the mar3s given each hour of study >per wee3? as
well as the mar3s required for passing the course.
8or example, if our student were to allocate 1! hours >per wee3? to mar3eting, then his final mar3 is expected to
be 1!>!? @ %!, which means passing the course. The student=s obAective is to minimize the total number of hours
studied. 2n addition, the following constraints have been identified:
B A passing grade should be achieved in each course.
B /btain an average grade of at least ,.
B (uppose that the student has the option to flip hamburgers at .c4onalds in his spare time. This Aob
pays #1" per hour. Assuming that the student has a total of -" hours available for study and flipping,
formulate that our student ma3es at least #1"" per wee3.
B The number of hours allocated to operations research should be at least $" percent of the number of
hours allocated to the other four subAects combined.