Authors: 1Samuel Amoako, 1Frank Osei Frimpong, 3Peter Kwasi Sarpong
1Akrokerri College of Education, 1Kumasi Technical University,
3Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Email: samkamoako2016@gmail.com | oseifrankfrimpong@yahoo.co.uk | Kp.sarp@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
The aim of every business set-up is to optimize cost (to maximize profit or minimize the cost of operation) while meeting certain constraints. In order to satisfy the demand of its customers, Latex Foam Rubber Products Limited has to arrange the limited number (fourteen) of vehicles at its disposal to send their products to their various depots.The assignments of these vehicles are made depending on the time an order is placed for the products and the truck available at that time. This work seeks to address the problemof finding efficient assignments of these fourteen vehicles to the sixteen majorroutes linking the factory to the termini destinations so as to minimize the totalcost (number of gallons of diesel) required for transporting the company’s products to its customers along these routes. Data on the types of trucks, number of gallons of diesel used per trip by each of the trucks to transport latex foam products and final destinations of the trucks, was obtained from the sales manager of the company through questioning. The Munkres Assignment algorithm, which best solves assignment problems, was employed. The algorithm takes the cost matrix of the assignment problem as input and proceeds by manipulating rows and columns through addition and subtraction to find the optimal assignment. The problem was solved using MATLAB computer program. Search on the internet was used to obtain the related literature. Books from the main Library at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the Mathematics Department’s library were read in the course of the project.
Keywords: Maximizing Profit, Minimizing Cost, Operation Cost, Operation Constraints
