Production and Distribution of Electric Meters
This report presents the solution to the problem being faced by the joint GCC company. The company initially set up an electric manufacturing plant at Musafah. It supplied power to the five cities of Dhahra, Manama, Riyadh, Kuwait and Jeddah from the Damam distribution center. With the growth of customer base another distribution centre was set up at Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi (KIZAD). Subsequently when the demand rose it set up another plant at Ras-al-Khaimah (RAK). In addition, another distribution centre was set up at Jabal Ali. At present the company supplied electric meters to 9 cities from three distribution centres and two production plants.
- Input analysis and assumptions (if any)
The production plants of Musafah and Rak generate different amounts of meters. Musafah produces 30000 meters and Rak produces 20000 meters. Moreover, the production costs of Musafah and Rak are $10.50 and $10.00 respectively.
The following table presents the cost to ship meters from the production to plant to the distribution center.
D i s t r i b u t i o n C e n t e r s |
|||
Plant |
Damam |
KIZAD |
Jabal Ali |
Musafah |
3.2 |
2.2 |
4.2 |
RAK |
— |
3.9 |
1.2 |
The following table presents the cost to ship meters from the distribution center to the customers zone.
C u s t o m e r Z o n e s |
|||||||||
Center |
Dhahran |
Manama |
Riyadh |
Kuwait |
Jeddah |
Salalah |
Muscat |
Nizwa |
Sohar |
Damam |
0.3 |
2.1 |
3.1 |
4.4 |
6.0 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
KIZAD |
5.2 |
5.4 |
4.5 |
6.0 |
2.7 |
4.7 |
3.4 |
3.3 |
2.7 |
Jabal Ali |
— |
— |
— |
— |
5.4 |
3.3 |
2.4 |
2.1 |
2.5 |
Further, the requirements of each of the customer zones is given below:
Customer Zone |
Dhahran |
Manama |
Riyadh |
Kuwait |
Jeddah |
Salala |
Muscat |
Nizwa |
Sohar |
Demand |
6300 |
4880 |
2130 |
1210 |
6120 |
4830 |
2750 |
8580 |
4460 |
- Definitions of all decision variables
The decision to be taken by the GCC company is how much power should be generated by each the two manufacturing units. The organizations need to take a decision on how much meters is to be generated from the two manufacturing centres of Musafah and Rak. Moreover, the organizations also need to decide the quantity of meters to be distributed to the three centers of Damam, Kizad and Jabal Ali. Further, the organization also needs to decide on the meters to be distributed from the three distribution centers to the nine customer zones.
- Detailed development of the objective function
The objective function has three parts.
- The product of the manufacturing cost of meters at the two plants and the quantity of production.
- The product of distribution cost from plant to distribution center
- The product of shipping cost from distribution plant to customer zone
- Existing constraints and their significance
The constraint is that Musfah plant can produce only 30000 meters while Rak can produce only 20000 meters.
- Model Summary – number of Variables and Constraints
There are 24 variables.
Minimize
0.3*Damam Dhahran + 2.1*Damam Manama + 3.1*Damam Riyadh + 4.4*Damam Kuwait + 6*Damam Jeddah + 5.2*KIZAD Dhahran + 5.4*KIZAD Manama + 4.5*KIZAD Riyadh + 6*KIZAD Kuwait + 2.7*KIZAD Jeddah + 4.7*KIZAD Salalah + 3.4*KIZAD Muscat + 3.3*KIZAD Nizwa + 2.7*KIZAD Sohar + 5.4*Jabal Ali Jeddah + 3.3*Jabal Ali Salalah + 2.4*Jabal Ali Muscat + 2.1*Jabal Ali Nizwa + 2.5*Jabal Ali Sohar + 13.7 *Musafah Damam + 12.7*Musafah KIZAD + 14.7*Musafah Jabal Ali +
13.9*RAK KIZAD + 11.2*RAK Jabal Ali
There are 14 constraints:
- Musafah-Damam + Musafah-Kizad + Musafah-Jabal Ali <= 30000
- Rak-Kizad + RakJabal Ali <= 20000
- Damam-Dhahara + Damam-Manama + Damam-Riyadh + Damam-Kuwait + Damam-Jeddah = Musafah-Damam
- Kizad-Dhahran + Kizad- Manama + Kizad-Riyadh + Kizad-Kuwait + Kizad- Jeddah + Kizad – Salalah + Kizad – Muscat + Kizad – Nizwa + Kizad – Sohar = Musafah-Kizad + Rak-Kizad
- Jabal Ali-Dhahran + Jabal Ali-Manama + Jabal Ali-Riyadh + Jabal Ali-Kuwait + Jabal Ali-Jeddah + Jabal Ali-Salalah + Jabal Ali-Muscat + Jabal Ali-Nizwa + Jabal Ali-Sohar = Musafah-Kizad + Rak-Kizad
- Damam-Dhahran + KIZAD – Dhahran = 6300
- Damam-Manama + KIZAD – Manama = 4880
- Damam-Riyadh + KIZAD – Riyadh = 2130
- Damam-Kuwait + KIZAD – Kuwait = 1210
- Damam-Jeddah + KIZAD – Jeddah + Jabal Ali-Jeddah = 6120
- KIZAD – Salalah + Jabal Ali-Salalah = 4830
- KIZAD – Muscat + Jabal Ali-Muscat = 2750
- KIZAD – Nizwa + Jabal Ali-Nizwa = 8580
- KIZAD – Sohar + Jabal Ali-Sohar = 4460
- Optimal solutions and their interpretations
The following table shows the amount of electric to be generated and distributed.
D i s t r i b u t i o n C e n t e r s |
|||
Plant |
Damam |
KIZAD |
Jabal Ali |
Musafah |
14520 |
6740 |
0 |
RAK |
0 |
0 |
20000 |
Costs Involved
The following table shows the meters to be shipped from the distribution center to the customer zones.
C u s t o m e r Z o n e s |
|||||||||
Center |
Dhahran |
Manama |
Riyadh |
Kuwait |
Jeddah |
Salalah |
Muscat |
Nizwa |
Sohar |
Damam |
6300 |
4880 |
2130 |
1210 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
KIZAD |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6120 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
620 |
Jabal Ali |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4830 |
2750 |
8580 |
3840 |
- Effect of Model Assumptions.
The assumptions in the model signify that:
- There would be optimum utilization of meters. No excess meters would be left at distribution centers.
- Optimum amount of meters would be produced and distributed from the plant to distribution center.
- Optimum amount of meters would be shipped from distribution centers to customer zones.
- Introduction
The total cost of manufacturing, distribution and shipping meters is $600942
- Responses to parts C-1 through C-4
The total cost of manufacturing, distribution and shipping meters is $600942
Dropping the distribution center limitation would lead to a reduction in distribution costs. The decrease in distribution costs would be : $600942 – $537174 = $63768
Considering the fact that the per-unit shipping cost is $0.30 from RAK to Nizwa, and $0.7 from RAK to Sohar and from Musafah to Manama is $3.50 the total cost would reduce since the costs from plant to customer via distribution would be reduced.
There would not be any need for plant expansion since the total productions from the two plants is 50000 while the total demand from the 9 customer zones is 41260. Considering the fact that there is an increase of 5000 meters demand the total demand would be 46260 which is below the total production level.
- Analysis of variations in (RHS)
The RHS provides information about the each of the constraints corresponding to the shadow price within the limits of allowable decrease and increase.
Damam distribution has a capacity of 145520. The allowable increase is 14520 and the allowable decrease is 8740.
Similarly, Kaizad distribution has a capacity of 6740. The allowable increase is 6740 and the allowable decrease is 8740.
Further, Jabal Ali distribution has a capacity of 20000. The allowable increase is 620 and the allowable decrease is 3840.
- Analysis of variation in objective function coefficients
The objective function coefficient provides information to the fact that when the value of the coefficient is changed within the allowable increase and decrease limits then the final objective value would not change.
- Analysis of variation in other input parameters
- Some of the input parameters are zero. When the values of the zeros are changed to non-zero values then reduced cost column provides us information of the changes in objective function.
- Summary of the analysis results
Musafah plant can produce 30000 meters. However the optimal solution provides information that Musafah should produce 14520 meters and distribute to Damam and 6740 meters and distribute to Kizad. Rak should ship all its meters to Jabal Ali.
Further it is found that the total shipping costs is $600942.
In addition, the optimal solution shows that from Damam distribution center the customer zones of Dhahran, Manama, Riyadh and Kuwait are served. From the Kizad distribution center Jeddah and Sohar meters are shipped. The customer centers of Salalah, Muscat, Nizwa and Sohar are provided meters from Jabal Ali.
Conclusion
From the analysis it can be recommended that looking at the future demand over five years there is no need to plant expansion. Further a reduction in shipping costs from Rak to Nizwa and Sohar and Musafah to Manama would reduce the total costs.