Business Finance Homework Help

QUESTION:

A.(2 points) Clearly define your decision variables in English. How many decision variables do you have?

B.(2 points) What is the objective function in this problem? Explainhow you would compute the objective function (in English). The mathematical expression for the objective function is very long, so do NOT explicitly state the mathematical formula.

NOTE: In your Solver model, the unit of shipment should be number of truckloads.

You work as an operations consultant for a textile company. Your client has a well-established distribution system in the US market. The company has hundreds of stores and four distribution centers. You will work with your client to determine the best way to distribute goods from distribution centers to retail stores.

The following information will guide you in analyzing the facility location decisions.

• The company has 377 stores in 16 different states. See the number of stores per state in the Excel file.
• The company has 6 distribution centers: Valdosta GA, Salisbury NC, Ft. Worth TX, Salt Lake City UT, Wichita, KS and Phoenix, AZ.
• For each distribution center, information on
  • estimated monthly capacity (in terms of number of truckloads of goods that can be shipped), and
  • the distance between the distribution center locations and store locations are provided in the Excel file.
• Your client tells you that the transportation cost will be $1.38 per mile per truckload.
• Following Zara’s strategy of “fast fashion” or fast-response supply chain, your client makes three deliveriesto each store every week. Each delivery involves only one truckload. That is, a total of three truckloads of goods are shipped from the distribution centers to each retail store each week. In your analysis, assume that a month is only four weeks; this brings monthly store demand to 3×4=12 truckloads per month.

You will analyze the information provided, build spreadsheet models, and use optimization to make a recommendation to your client on which distribution centers should supply which retail stores.

A.(2 points) Clearly define your decision variables in English. How many decision variables do you have?

B.(2 points) What is the objective function in this problem? Explainhow you would compute the objective function (in English). The mathematical expression for the objective function is very long, so do NOT explicitly state the mathematical formula.

NOTE: In your Solver model, the unit of shipment should be number of truckloads.