MODELLING TRANSPORTATION PROBLEMS IN THE TIMBER INDUSTRY: A CASE OF ASUO BOOSADU TIMBER SAWMILL LIMITED (ABTS), BEREKUM

ABSTRACT
The transportation problem is a special class of the linear programming problem. It deals with the situation in which a commodity is transported from source to destinations.
The proposed transportation model of manufacturing good to customers (key distributors) is considered in this research. The data gathered were modelled as a linear programming model of transportation type and represent the transport problem as a tableau and solve it with computer software solves to generate an optional solution.
The main objective is to model the product of ABTS transportation as a transportation problem and minimize the cost of transportation of plywood in the ABTS Company. The quantitative method (QM) software will be used to analyze the data.


CHAPTER 1 
INTRODUCTION
1.1       Introduction
Forests are very important in the development of many African countries as they play a key role in most aspects of the socio-economic lives of the people.

Also, considering the signicant role forests play in mitigating climate change, it is essential to conserve forests by reducing deforestation and increasing forest cover. The United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (Henceforth referred to as MDG) encourages developing countries to meet certain targets aimed at helping them achieve a higher status of development. Forestry plays an important part in Ghana's economy. In the 1980s, timber was the third-largest export commodity after cocoa and gold, accounting for 5-7% of the total gross domestic product (GDP), and the forestry sector employed some 70 000 people. Forests also provide 75% of Ghana's energy requirements(Arsham,1992).

1.1.1    TIMBER USES
Some of the uses of timber are as follows: Air dispensers (eg aquariums),Articial limbs, Bakers equipment, Balance, decks and terraces, Boat and ship construction, Cladding, Beehives, Carving and sculpture, Cooperage, Cabinet making, Fencing, Flooring, Furniture's, Glass manufacture log cabins, Musical instruments, Pallets, Paper and paper products, Power poles, Saunas and hot tubs, Scaolding, Shingles, Smocking produce(eg sh and meat), Railways sleepers and Windows.

1.1.2    Timber benets  (over other construction materials)
Timber is the only 100% renewable resource of construction material

Renewable resource allows for the direct employment of hundreds of thousands of people. Thus improving local economy.

Timber from managed plantations are Greenhouse Gas Reducing.

Ecologically safe and sound to handle and dispose

Natural Variations add esthetic interest.

1.1.3    Some Types of Timbers Found in Ghana
Some of these timber are;

Odum(miliciaexcelsa), Awilemfosamina (albiziaferruginea), teak (tactinagranais), wawa (tropolochitmseleroxylon), watapuo (cola gigantean), potrodom (erythrophleumivorense), kokradua (pericopsiselata), kusia (naucleadiderrichii), mansonai (African black walnut) , ofram (terminaliasuperba) and ceiba.

1.2       Background to the Research
1.2.1    Overview of Forestation in Africa
Forest resources are essential to social and economic activities in Africa;

as a result, they are important elements in both poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies for many Sub-Saharan African countries(Reeb and Leavengood,2000). There is therefore the need to protect forests and implement policies and programs that ensure that these forests are sustained for future generations. Also, considering the rise in development activities such as the discovery of oil, increasing activities in mining and the ever growing telecommunications industry on the continent, it is necessary to evaluate or assess policies aimed at sustaining forests so this essential resource is not lost in the future(? ).

One of the most important and successful applications of quantitative analysis to solving business problem has been in the physical distribution of products, commonly referred to as transportation problems(Goldfarb and Kai,1986).

Basically, the cost of shipping goods from one location to another is to meet the needs of each arrival area and every shipping location operation within its capacity. In this context, it refers to a planning process that allocates resources-labour, materials, machines, capital in the best possible (optional) way so that cost are minimized or prots are maximized. In Linear programming (LP), these resources are known as decision variable. The criterion for selecting the best values of the decision variable (eg to maximize prots or minimize cost) is known as the objective function.

Limitations on resource availability form what is known as a constraint set( ? ).

Transportation model is one of those techniques that can help to nd an optimum solution and save the cost in transportation models or problems primarily concerned with the optimal (best possible) way in which a product factories or plants (called supply origins) can be transported to a number of warehouses or customers (called demand destinations)( ? ). The objective in a transportation problem is to fully satisfy the destination requirements within the operating production capacity constraints at the minimum possible cost. Whenever there is a physical movement of goods from the point of manufacturer to the nal consumers through a variety of channels of distribution (wholesalers, retailers, distributors etc), there is a need to minimize the cost of transportation so as to increase prot on sales( ? ).

The transportation problem is a special class of linear programming problem that commodities from source to destinations. The objective of the transportation problem is to determine the shipping schedule that minimizes the total shipping cost while satisfying supply and demand limits. The model assumes that the shipping cost is proportional to the number of units shipped on a given route. In general, the transportation model can be extended to other areas of operation, including, among others, inventory control, employment scheduling and personnel assignment.

The transportation problem received this name because many of its applications involve in determining how to optimally transport goods. The transportation problem deals with the distribution of goods from several points, such as factories often known as sources, to a number of points of demand, such as warehouses, often known as destinations. Each source is able to supply a xed number of units of products, usually called the capacity or availability and each destination has a xed demand, usually known as requirement.

Because of its major application in solving problems which involves several products sources and several destinations of products, this type of problem is frequently called the transportation problem. The classical transportation problem is referred to as a special case of Linear Programming (LP) problem and its model is applied to determine an optional solution for delivering available amount of satised demand in which the total transportation cost is minimized. The transportation problem can be described using linear programming mathematical model and usually it appears in a transportation tableau.

One possibility to solve the optional problem would be optimization method. The problem is however formulated so that objective function and all constraints are linear and thus the problem can be solved. There is a type of linear programming problem that may be solved using a simplied version of the simplex technique called transportation method. The simplex method is an iterative algebraic procedure for solving linear programming problems(Badr,2007).

Transportation theory is the name given to the study of optional transportation and allocation of resources. The model is useful for making strategic decisions involved in selecting optimum transportation routes so as to allocate the production of various plants to several warehouses or distribution centres. The transportation model can also be used in making location decisions. The model helps in locating a new facility, manufacturing a new facility, manufacturing plant or an oce when two or more of the locations are under consideration.

The total transportation cost, distribution cost or shipping cost and production costs are to be minimized by applying the model. Transportation problem is a particular class of linear programming, which is associated with day-to-day activities in our real life and mainly deals with logistics. It helps in solving problems on distribution and transportation of resources from one place to another. The goods are transported from a set of sources (eg factory) to a set of destinations (eg. warehouse) to meet the specic requirements.

There is a type of Linear programming problem that may be solved using a simplied version of the simplex technique called transportation method. Because of its major application in solving problems involving several product sources and several destinations of products, this type of problem is frequently called the transportation problem. It gets its name from its application to problems involving transporting products from several sources to several destinations. Although the formation can be used to represent more general assignment and scheduling problems it is also a transportation and distribution problems. The two common objectives of such problems are to;

Minimize the cost of shipping in units to destinations

Maximize the prot of shipping in units to destinations

The transportation problem itself was rst formulated by Hitchcock (1941), and was independently treated by Koopmans and Kantorovich. In fact, Monge (1781) formulated it and solved it by geometrical means. Hitchaxic (1941) developed the basic transportation problem; however it could be solved for optimally as answers to complex business problem only in 1951. When George B. Dantizig applied the concept of Linear programming in solving the transportation model, Dantzing (1951) gave the standard Linear Programming (LP) formulation, Transportation problem (TP) and applied the simplex method subject in almost every textbook on operation research and mathematical programming.

Linear programming has been used successfully in solution of problem concerned with the assignment of personnel, distribution and transportation, engineering, banking education, petroleum etc. Furthermore, LP algorithms are used in subroutines for solving more dicult optimization problems. A widely considered quint essential LP algorithm is the simplex Algorithm developed by Dantzig (1947) in response to a challenge to mechanise the Air Force planning process. Linear Programming has been applied extensively in various areas such as transportation, health care and public services etc. The simplex algorithm was the forerunner of many computer programs that are used to solve complex optimization problem (Baynto, 2006). The transportation method has been employed to develop many dierent types of process. From machine shop scheduling, Mohaglegh (2006) optimized operating room schedules in hospitals (Goldfarb and Kai,1986).The transportation problem is a special kind of the network optimization problem. The transportation models play an important role in logistics and supply chains. The objective is to schedule shipments from sources to destinations so that total transportation cost is minimized. The problem seeks a production and distribution plan that minimizes total transportation cost.

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Item Type: Ghanaian Topic  |  Size: 88 pages  |  Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word  |  Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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