In this chapter three special types of linear programming problems were presentedthe transportation problem, the transshipment problem, and the assignment problem. As mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, they are part of a larger class of linear programming problems, known as network flow problems. In the next chapter we examine several additional examples of network flow problems, including the shortest route problem, the minimal spanning tree problem, and the maximal flow problem. Although they have different objectives, they share the same general characteristics as the transportation and assignment problemsthat is, the flow of items from sources to destinations. |