Discuss the below problem:
Q: Huntco produces tomato sauce at five different plants.The capacity (in tons) of each plant is given in Table 40. The tomato sauce is stored at one of three warehouses. The per ton cost (in hundreds of dollars) of producing tomato sauce at each plant and shipping it to each warehouse is given in Table 41. Huntco has four customers. The cost of shipping a ton of sauce from each warehouse to each customer is as given in Table 42. Each customer must be delivered the amount (in tons) of sauce given in Table 43.
a Formulate a balanced transportation problem whose solution will tell us how to minimize the cost of meeting the customer demands.
b Modify this problem if these are annual demands and there is a fixed annual cost of operating each plant and warehouse. These costs (in thousands) are given in Table 44.
