DIRECCIÓN DE OPERACIONES

(OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT)

Tema 5: Linear Programming

in Operations Management
Francesc Amaro Martínez
 Introduction

• Linear Programming (LP) refers to several

related mathematical techniques used to
allocate limited resources among competing
demands in an optimal way.
• LP is a type of mathematical optimization.
• LP is gaining wide acceptance in many
industries due to the interest in optimizing
processes to reduce cost.

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 Introduction

• LP is applied in many OM problems such as:

– Agregate Sales and Operations Management.
– Product Planning.
– Product routing.
– Vehicle/Crew scheduling.
– Process Control.
– Inventory Control.
– Distribution scheduling.
– Plant location studies.
– Material handling
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 Introduction

• There are five essential conditions in a problem

for linear programming to pertain:
– Limited Resources.
– Explicit objective.
– Linearity.
– Homogeneity.
– Divisibility.

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 LP Model

• Objective :
– Maximize or minimize an objective function Z:
Max or Min Z = c1x1 + c2x2 + c3x3 +... ...+ cnxn

– Subject to resource constraints in the form:

a11x1 + a12x2 + a13x3 +... ...+ a1nxn ≤ b1
a21x1 + a22x2 + a23x3 +... ...+ a2nXn ≤ b2

am1x1 + am2x2 + am3x3 +... ...+ amn Xn ≤ bm

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 LP Model

• Where c1, c2, … …cn ,

a11, a12, … … a1n ,
a21, a22, … …. a2n ,
…. …. ....
…. .... ….
. …. …. ….

am1, am2, … … amn , and

b1, b2, … … bm ,

are given constants, and

x1, ≥ 0, x2, ≥ 0, ... ... xn, ≥ 0 (decision variables).

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 LP Model

• The problem is to find out the value of the n

decision variables (x1, x2 ... .... xn ) which fulfill
the objective function (such as maximize profit or
minimize cost), subject to the m constraints, and
the non negative conditions of the xi variables.
• The set of values (x1, x2 ... .... xn ) calculated in
this way is the optimal solution.

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 Variations of LP Model

• When products and resources cannot be

subdivided into fractions: integer
programming.
• When multiple objectives exist: goal
programming.
• When a problem is best solved in stages or time
frames: dynamic programming.
• Other variations of LP technique:
– Nonlinear programming.
– Quadratic programming.
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