OR-Notes

J E Beasley

OR-Notes are a series of introductory notes on topics that fall under the broad heading of the field of operations research (OR). They were originally used by me in an introductory OR course I give at Imperial College. They are now available for use by any students and teachers interested in OR subject to the following conditions.

A full list of the topics available in OR-Notes can be found here.


Linear programming tutorial question

A cement manufacturer produces two types of cement, namely granules and powder. He cannot make more than 1600 bags a day due to a shortage of vehicles to transport the cement out of the plant. A sales contract means that he must produce at least 500 bags of powdered cement per day. He is further restricted by a shortage of time - the granulated cement requires twice as much time to make as the powdered cement. A bag of powdered cement requires 0.24 minutes to make and the plant operates an 8 hour day. His profit is £4 per bag for granulated cement and £3 per bag for the powdered cement.