Reference no: EM132213934

Question: Cranberries can be harvested using either a "wet" method or "dry" method. Dry-harvested cranberries can be sold at a premium, while wet harvested cranberries are used mainly for cranberry juice and bring in less revenue. Fresh Made Cranberry Cooperative must decide how much of its cranberry crop should be harvested wet and how much should be dry harvested. Fresh Made has 5500 barrels of cranberries that can be harvested using either the wet or dry method. Dry cranberries are sold for $31.50 per barrel and wet cranberries are sold for $17.50 per barrel. Once harvested, cranberries must go through dechaffing and cleaning operations. The dechaffing and the cleaning operations can each be run 24 hours per day for the 6-week seasons (for a total of 1,016 hours). Each barrel of dry cranberries requires 0.19 hours in the dechaffing operation and 0.31 hours in the cleaning operation. Wet cranberries require 0.04 hours in the dechaffing operation and 0.12 hours in the cleaning operation. Wet cranberries must also go through a dry process. The drying process can also be operated 24 hours per day for the 6-week season, and each barrel of wet cranberries must be dried for 0.24 hours.

Interpret the dual value for the constraint corresponding to the cleaning operation. How would you explain the meaning of this dual value to management? If required, round your answers to two decimal places.

Assuming everything else remains unchanged, each additional hour of cleaning capacity (Constraint 3) added (subtracted) from the 1,016 available hours increases (decreases) revenues $ x=_______? based on the Dual Values shown here. This is true for any cleaning capacity value between x=_______? and x=________?.