The U.S. Cable Company uses a distribution system with five distribution centers and eight customer zones. Each customer zone is assigned a sole source supplier; each customer zone receives all of its cable products from the same distribution center. In an effort to balance demand and workload at the distribution centers, the company’s vice presidents of logistics specified that distribution centers may not be assigned more than three customer zones. The following table shows the five distribution centers and cost of supplying each customer zone (in thousands of dollars)
Customer Zones
Distribution
Los
Kansas
Centers
Angeles
Chicago
Columbus
Atlanta
Newark
City
Denver
Dallas
Plano
70
47
22
53
98
21
27
13
Nashville
75
38
19
58
90
34
40
26
Flagstaff
15
78
37
82
111
29
32
Springfield
60
23
8
39
36
45
Bolder
86
25
11
a. Determine the assignment of customer zones to distribution centers that will minimize cost
b. Which distribution centers, if any, are not used?
c. Suppose that each distribution center is limited to a maximum of two customer zones. How does this constraint change the assignment and the cost of supplying customer zones?
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