Scholarly record

MINIMIZING THE TRANSPORTATION COSTS BY MEANS OF THREE DIMENSIONAL TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM

Rosen Nikolaev, D. Zhelyazkova, T. Milkova

Abstract

In the present paper some possibilities for construction and application of various modifications of the well-known transportation problem are proposed aiming the minimizing of the transportation costs for transferring the material flows between suppliers and consumers. The transportation costs are usually a significant part of the total logistical expenses and each logistic system has its own specifics and characteristics for transportation of materials, goods and products. This gives opportunities for applying different optimization models and methods which concern most of all the particular characteristics of each economic situation. In the well-known classical model of the transportation problem the optimal distribution of the transport is determined but not the timing of the delivery. In the present research paper the authors make an attempt to construct a three dimensional transportation problem with the third dimension is the moment of delivery and an optimal solution is determined for the transport between suppliers and consumers for a given period of time. Some modifications of the model are examined which differ in some characteristics of the problem with a reflection in the constraints. The methods of the linear optimization are used during the construction of the model of three dimensional transportation problem for minimizing the transportation costs.

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