Reference no: EM132219396
Mr. Meadows Cookie Company makes a variety of chocolate chip cookies in the plant in Albion, Michigan. Based on the orders received and forecasts of buying habits, it is estimated that the demand for the next 4 months is 850, 1260, 510 and 980, expressed in thousands of cookies.
During a 46-day period when there were 120 workers, the company produced 1.7 million cookies. Assume that the number of workdays over the 4 months are, respectively, 26, 24, 20 and 16. There are currently 100 workers employed, and there is no starting inventory of cookies.
Consider the company describe in the previous problem. Suppose that the cost of hiring workers each period is $100 for each worker until 20 workers are hired, $400 for each worker when between 21 and 50 workers are hired, and $700 for each worker hired beyond 50.
a. Write down the complete linear programming formulation of the revised problem.
b. Solve the revised problem for the optimal solution. What difference does the new hiring cost function make in the solution?