Laptops R Us manufactures laptops France, Spain, and Denmark. They only partial build the laptops in Europe and then ship the partially completed laptops to Brazil, Costa Rica, and Peru and have them completed before final shipment to the U.S. distributors in Alabama, Maryland, and Illinois. The available supply from the European plants and the demand of the U.S, distributors States as follows: Demand (units) European Plant France Spain Denmark Supply (units) 550 680 490 European Plant France Spain Denmark The unit costs of shipping partially completed laptops to the plants in South and Central America for finishing before sending them to the United States are as follows: Factory Brazil Costa Rica Peru Brazil $280 180 200 U.S. Distributor Alabama Maryland Illinois Alabama $160 The unit costs of shipping completed laptops from the plants in South and Central America to the United States are as follows: 120 180 Factory Costa Rica $240 220 180 450 500 580 U.S. Distributor Maryland $140 160 140 Peru $220 200 170 Illinois $180 140 160 Formulate this problem in Excel and solve to determine the optimal shipment of laptops that will meet the demand at the U.S. Distributors at the minimum total cost. SOLUTION: The optimal solution, the value of the cost, should be $509,400. This is a transshipment problem. (Hint: count the supply available at the European countries and compare them to the demand needed at the distribution centers to determine which location (European country or U.S. Distributor) will have the inequality). Questions a) Which European country did not ship out all its supply? b) Did any U.S. distributor receive shipment from more than one plant in South and Central America? Explain. c) Did any plant in South and Central America receive shipments from more than European country? Explain.