Assignment:
A company manufactures two products (A and B) and the profit per unit sold is £3 and £5 respectively. Each product has to be assembled on a particular machine, each unit of product A taking 12 minutes of assembly time and each unit of product B 25 minutes of assembly time. The company estimates that the machine used for assembly has an effective working week of only 30 hours (due to maintenance/breakdown).
Technological constraints mean that for every five units of product A produced at least two units of product B must be produced.
• Formulate the problem of how much of each product to produce as a linear program.
• Solve this linear program graphically.
• The company has been offered the chance to hire an extra machine, thereby doubling the effective assembly time available. What is the maximum amount you would be prepared to pay (per week) for the hire of this machine and why?