Linear programming is an operations research technique which originated during the early 1950s. Having diverse practical applications, the technique has benefitted immensely various organizations in their production and other operations. Prof. G.B. Dantzig is one of the pioneers in the formulating the procedure of Linear programming.
This technique can be applied in various situations: long range planning, production planning, warehousing decisions, physical distribution decisions, marketing, and product mix decisions, fluid blending problems, exploration of oil deposits, purchasing decisions, quality control decisions, material utilization decisions, etc.
The basic problem solved by Linear Programming is that of optimizing either profit or total costs or some other utility function. It takes into consideration the limitations or constraints on the availability or usage of different resources such as manpower, machinery, materials, time and money as also other limitations and constraints such as those existing in the market (e.g. only so many units of a product could be sold) or specifications for quality such as the maximum or minimum limits on the performance characteristics of a particular product, etc. In short Linear programming deals with optimizing a desired objective under a situation where there are various constraints. Most of the management problems are optimal decision making problems made under the various limitations. Therefore Linear programming rightly attracts the attention of practicing executives.
We can illustrate what linear programming means through a simple example. Suppose a company produces two products X and Y, both of which require a particular raw material and a particular machine. Product X requires 4 machine hours and 3 Kg of raw material per unit of the product, and product Y requires 2 machine hours and 6 Kg of raw material per unit of the product. Suppose that the availability of the machine hours and raw material is limited. The raw material is available to the maximum extend of only 240 Kg per month and the machine hours are available to a maximum extend of only 200 machine hours per month. Each of the products X and Y contribute to the profit margin by $7 and $9 respectively per unit of the product. How many units of products X and Y should the company produce every month?
To solve the above problem, you must understand the concept of linear programming clearly and apply it in the right manner. If you face problem while learning this concept then you can take the help of private tutors. Finding the right private tutor for a particular subject, location, and time period is possible through Internet. You just need to take out some time from your busy schedule to find private tutoring services online.
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