Global Foods, Inc. imports food products to the United States from Rotterdam, Barcelona, and Genoa. Ships from
Question:
Global Foods, Inc. imports food products to the United States from Rotterdam, Barcelona, and Genoa. Ships from these ports deliver the products to Charleston, Miami, and Wilmington, where they are stored in company warehouses before being shipped to distribution centers in Houston, Denver, and Detroit. The shipping costs ($/1,000 lbs.) from the European ports to the U.S. cities and available supplies (1,000 lbs.) at the European ports are provided in the following table: Shipping Costs ($/1,000 lbs.): U.S. Warehouses Port Charleston Miami Wilmington Supply (1,000 lbs.) Rotterdam $525 $488 $765 110 Barcelona $625 $740 $590 125 Genoa $550 $450 $600 65 The transportation costs ($/1,000 lbs.) from each U.S. city of the three distribution centers and the demands (1,000 lbs.) at the distribution centers: Distribution Center Houston Denver Detroit From Warehouse Charleston $105 $90 $110 Miami $175 $154 $133 Wilmington $95 $115 $133 Demand (1,000 lbs.) 100 90 80 Formulate this problem in Excel and solve to determine the minimum shipping costs required to meet demands. SOLUTION: The optimal solution, the value of the cost, should be $170,785. This is a transshipment problem. (Hint: count the supply available at the European ports and compare them to the demand needed at the distribution centers to determine which location (European port or distribution center) will have the inequality). Questions: a) Which European supplier did not ship out all its supply? b) How many pounds should be shipped from Barcelona to Wilmington? c) How many pounds should be shipped from Miami to Detroit?