Read the article footnoted in Sec. 3.5 that describes the first case study presented in that section: “Choosing the Product Mix at Ponderosa Industrial.”

(a) Describe the two factors which, according to the article, often hinder the use of optimization models by managers.

(b) Section 3.5 indicates without elaboration that using linear programming at Ponderosa “led to a dramatic shift in the types of plywood products emphasized by the company.” Identify this shift.

(c) With the success of this application, management then was eager to use optimization for other problems as well. Identify these other problems.

(d) Photocopy the two pages of appendixes that give the mathematical formulation of the problem and the structure of the linear programming model.