New Bedford Steel (NBS) is a small steel manufacturing company. Their Planning Manager for next years production, Stephanie Coggins, has received bids from 8 suppliers for next year (see table below) for supply of gas that NBS needs for manufacturing. The manager needs to accept bids for a total of 1,225 mtons (1 mton = 1,000 tons) of coking coal for the coming year. NBS needs to procure at least 50% of its coking coal from union mines. The capacity for bringing in coal by rail is limited to 650 mtons per year and capacity for bringing in coal by truck is limited to 720 mtons per year.

wepta (5 points) a. What is the optimal solution? (5 points) b. which constraints are binding at the optimal? (5 points) c. what will be the impact on costs if the capacity of gas needed is increased by 10 . (5 points) d. what is the allowable range for the capacity constraint. ( 5 points) e. The company that provides trucks for bringing in coal has offered to increase its capacity from 720 to 920mtons/ year for an additional cost of $90,000 per year. Should Stephanie Coggins accept this offer? Why or why not