1.You have been hired by a trucking company to help them set up their operations in a new town. Market research indicates that for the firm to be profitable, it must be able to provide a daily hauling capacity of at least 84,000 cubic feet. The facility that is being built has bays for at most 40 trucks. There are two kinds of truck available to purchase, Small trucks cost $18,000 and Large trucks cost $45,000. A Small truck only requires a single driver, but a Large truck requires 3 drivers as it is used to do long-haul jobs. A Small truck has a capacity of 2,400 cubic feet and a Large truck has a capacity of 6,000 cubic feet.

a. Initially your boss asks you to tell her how many of each type of truck to purchase so as to minimize costs. Build a spreadsheet model that can be used with solver to find the answer.

b. How many of each type of truck should you tell the boss to purchase? What is the cost for this solution and how many drivers does it require?

c.The boss then tells you that the company wants to reduce personnel costs, so theyd be willing to pay a little more for trucks if they could hire the fewest number of drivers possible. Modify your solver model and determine the new optimal solution. How many drivers does it require and how much does it cost? What do you notice about these two solutions?