Global Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics.

ISSN 0973-1768 Volume 13, Number 9 (2017), pp. 4671-4676

© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com

To Obtain Initial Basic Feasible Solution Physical

Distribution Problems

K. Dhurai1 and A. Karpagam2

1
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics,
Valliammai Engineering College, Kattankulathur,
Chennai 603 203, India.

2
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics,
Valliammai Engineering College, Kattankulathur,
Chennai 603 203, India.

Abstract
The transportation problem involves a large number of shipping routes from
several supply origins to several demand destinations. In this paper a new
method, named as Dhu-kar method is proposed for find an Initial Basic Feasible
Solution (IBFS) for a wide range of Physical distribution problems. A numerical
illustration is established and the IBFS of the result yielded by this method. The
most attractive feature of this method is very simple arithmetical and logical
calculations.
Keywords: Initial Basic feasible Solution, Physical Distribution Problem,
Northwest, Least cost, Vogel’s, Dhu-Kar.

I. INTRODUCTION
Transportation problems have been widely studied in computer science and operation
Research. It is one of the fundamental problems of network flow problem which is
usually use to minimize the transportation cost for industries with number of sources
and number of destination while satisfying the supply limit and demand requirement.
Transportation models play an important role in Logistics and supply-chain
4672 K. Dhurai and A. Karpagam

management for reducing cost and improving service. In real world applications, the
supply and demand quantities in the Transportation problem are sometimes hardly
specified precisely because of changing economic conditions. It was first studied by
F.L.Hitchcock in 1941, then separately by T.C.Koopmans in 1947 and finally placed in
the framework of Linear programming and solved by simplex method by G.B.Dantzig
in 1951. Now a day’s Transportation problem has become a standard application for
Industrial organizations having several manufacturing units, warehouses and
distribution centers.
There are several methods available to obtain an initial basic feasible solution. The
advantage of this method is that it gives an initial solution which is nearer to an optimal
solution. In this paper, We have presented that the proposed method for finding IBFS
of a transportation problem, Two numerical examples are presented to prove my clam.

II PRELIMINARIES
Some basic definitions are presented
2.1 The general form of Transportation problem
Minimize (Total cost) 𝑍 = ∑𝑚 𝑛
𝑖=1 ∑𝑗=1 𝑐𝑖𝑗 𝑥𝑖𝑗

Subject to the constraints ∑𝑛𝑗=1 𝑥𝑖𝑗 = 𝑎𝑖, 𝑖=1,2,3,…,𝑚

∑𝑚
𝑖=1 𝑥𝑖𝑗 = 𝑏𝑗, 𝑗=1,2,3,…,𝑛

𝑥𝑖𝑗 ≥ 0for all i and j.

2.2 Feasible solution

A feasible solution to transportation is a set of non-negative allocations 𝑥𝑖𝑗 that satisfies
the rim (row and column) restrictions.

2.3 Basic feasible solution

A feasible solution to a transportation problem is said to be a basic solution if it contains
no more than m+ n-1 non-negative allocations, where m is the number of rows and n is
the number of columns of the transportation problem.

2.4 Optimal solution

A feasible solution that minimizes the transportation cost is called an optimal solution.
To Obtain Initial Basic Feasible Solution Physical Distribution Problems 4673

2.5 Non-Degenerate Basic feasible solution

A basic feasible solution to a (m x n) transportation problem is said to be a non-
degenerate if,
(a) The total number of non-negative allocations is exactly m+n-1 and
(b) These m+n-1 allocations are in independent positions.

2.6 Degenerate Basic feasible solution

A basic feasible solution in which the total number of non-negative allocations is less
than m+n-1 is called degenerate feasible solution.

III. DHU-KAR METHOD

In this section, Dhu-Kar method is proposed to find the IBFS of Physical Distribution
Problems. The steps of Dhu-Kar method are as follows;
(i) For each row (column) with strictly positive supply (demand). Determine the
cardinality of even (odd) set, which is maximum including zero if it is there.
(ii) Identify the minimum variable in that set, allocate as much as possible to the
variable with the least unit cost in the selected row or column. Adjust the supply and
demand, and cross out the satisfied row or column. If a row and a column are satisfied
simultaneously, only one of the two is crossed out, and the remaining row or column is
assigned zero supply (demand).
(iii) Repeat the procedure until the entire available supply at various sources and
demand at various destinations is satisfied.

3.1 Numerical example

In this section, the Physical Distribution Problems solved in book Gupta. P.K and Hira,
D.S [4] and Sharma [7], using the proposed method.
Example 3.1.1
Determine the IBFS to the following Transportation problem

𝐷1 𝐷2 𝐷3 𝐷4 Supply

𝐾1 2 3 11 7 6

𝐾2 1 0 6 1 1
4674 K. Dhurai and A. Karpagam

𝐾3 5 8 15 9 10

Demand 7 5 3 2

Solution:
Since ∑ 𝑎𝑖 = ∑ 𝑏𝑗 the problem is a balancedTP. Hence there exist a feasible solution.
We find the initial solution by proposed method.

The total transportation cost of the Initial Basic Feasible solution by proposed method
calculated as an below
Total cost= 4 × 3+ 2×11+1×0+7×5+1×15+2×9 = 102.

Example 3.1.2

𝑆1 𝑆2 𝑆3 𝑆4 Supply

𝐾1 1 2 3 4 6

𝐾2 4 3 2 0 8

𝐾3 0 2 2 1 10

Demand 4 6 8 6
To Obtain Initial Basic Feasible Solution Physical Distribution Problems 4675

Solution:

3.2 Results and Discussions

The results of the Physical Distribution Problems, chosen in example 4.1, obtained by
using the existing method and the DK method are shown in table 1.
Ex Existing Method Proposed Method
North-west LCM VAM
Corner
3.1.1 𝑥11 = 6, 𝑥11 = 6, 𝑥11 = 6, 𝑥12 = 4,
𝑥21 = 1, 𝑥22 = 1, 𝑥22 = 1, 𝑥13 = 2,
𝑥32 = 5, 𝑥31 = 1, 𝑥31 = 1, 𝑥22 = 1,
𝑥33 = 3, 𝑥32 = 4, 𝑥32 = 4, 𝑥31 = 7,
𝑥34 = 2 𝑥33 = 3, 𝑥33 = 3, 𝑥33 = 1,
Z = 116 𝑥34 = 2 𝑥34 = 2 𝑥34 = 2
Z = 112 Z = 102 Z = 102
3.1.2 𝑥11 = 4, 𝑥12 = 6, 𝑥12 = 6, 𝑥12 = 6,
𝑥12 = 2, 𝑥23 = 2, 𝑥23 = 2, 𝑥23 = 2,
𝑥22 = 4, 𝑥24 = 6, 𝑥24 = 6, 𝑥24 = 6,
𝑥23 = 4, 𝑥31 = 4, 𝑥31 = 4, 𝑥31 = 4,
𝑥33 = 4, 𝑥33 = 6, 𝑥33 = 6, 𝑥33 = 6,
𝑥34 = 6, Z =28 Z = 28 Z = 28
Z =42
4676 K. Dhurai and A. Karpagam

Note:
(i) The above procedure leads to a solution of any one of the existing method.
(ii) Follow the above procedure for even and odd set without finding the cardinality of
the set, which provides the solution of any one of the existing method.

IV CONCLUSION
Thus it can be concluded that Dhu-kar method provides an IBFS easily in fewer
iterations for the transportation problems. As this method consume less time and is very
easy to understand and apply. So it will be very helpful for decision makers who are
dealing with logistic and supply chain problems.

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