A fashion & textile manufacturer currently has fourmanufacturing plants (Plant A, B, C, D) and two retail outlets(Outlet 1 and 2). Due to expected reduction in demand, the companyis considering whether closing some of the plants would bepossible. The details of the weekly forecasted demand at outlets,weekly supply at plants, and the unit cost to transport betweenplants and outlets are shown as follows.
| Outlet 1 | Outlet 2 | Supply | Fixed Annual Operating Cost |
Plant A | $5 | $7 | 3,560 | $750,000 |
Plant B | 4.5 | 6 | 3,200 | 830,000 |
Plant C | 6 | 8 | 2,800 | 680,000 |
Plant D | 9 | 7 | 4,200 | 825,000 |
Forecasted Demand | 4,500 | 6,000 | | |
The plant can produce only if it is operated, and the quantityshould not exceed the weekly supply. Plant B can be used only ifeither plant A or plant C or both plants are used. Both Plant C andD should be operated at the same time. The manufacturer does notneed to pay the fixed annual operating cost if the plant is notoperated.
Questions:
- Formulate an integer programming model for this problem todetermine which plants should be operated and the number ofproducts that should be shipped from each plant to each outlet tominimize the total cost, which includes the operating cost andtransportationcost.                                                                                   Â
- Solve the problem using solver (you need to attach the Excelworksheet as evidence).     Â
