Transportation Problem (TP)

• Feasible Solution: Any set of non-negative allocation which satisfies row and column sum is called a feasible solution.
• Basic Feasible Solution(BFS): A feasible solution is called BFS if the number of non-negative allocation is equal to m+n-1, where m- number of rows , n- number of columns
• Non Degenerated Basic Feasible Solution: Any feasible solution of a TP containing m origins and n destinations are said to be Non Degenerated, if it contains m+n-1 occupied cells and each allocation is in independent positions.
• Allocations are said to be independent if it is impossible to form a closed path.
• Closed Path: It means by allowing horizontal and vertical lines and all the corner cells are occupied.

• Degenerated Basic Feasible Solution:If a BFS contains less than m+n-1 non-negative allocations it is said to be degenerated.

OPTIMAL SOLUTION:

It is a feasible solution which minimizes the total cost.

The solution of a TP can be obtained in two stages namely

1. Initial solution
2. Optimal solution

Initial solution can be obtained by any one of the following methods

• North West Corner Rule(NWCR)
• Least Cost Method (LCM) or Matrix Minima Method
• Vogel's Approximation Method (VAM)