Orient Express is a global distribution company that transports its clients products to customers in Hong Kong,
Question:
Orient Express is a global distribution company that transports its clients’ products to customers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei. All the products Orient Express ships are stored at three distribution centers—one in Los Angeles, one in Savannah, and one in Galveston. For the coming month the company has 450 containers of computer components available at the Los Angeles center, 600 containers available at Savannah, and 350 containers available at Galveston. The company has orders for 600 containers from Hong Kong, 500 containers from Singapore, and 500 containers from Taipei. The shipping costs per container from each U.S. port to each of the overseas ports are shown in the following table:
U.S. Distribution Center Overseas Port (cost/container)
Hong Kong Singapore Taipei Los Angeles $300 $210 $340 Savannah 490 520 610 Galveston 360 320 500 Orient Express, as the overseas broker for its U.S. customers, is responsible for unfulfilled orders, and it incurs stiff penalty costs from overseas customers if it does not meet an order. The Hong Kong customers charge a penalty cost of $800 per container for unfulfilled demand, Singapore customers charge a penalty cost of $920 per container, and Taipei customers charge $1,100 per container. Formulate and solve a transportation model to determine the shipments from each U.S.
distribution center to each overseas port that will minimize shipping costs. Indicate what portion of the total cost is a result of penalties. LO.1
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