Study of a Linear Programming Approach to Supply Chain Planning

Abstract

This paper is a study that explores the formulation of a supply chain planning problem into a linear programming model and its computation. Supply chain planning is foundation of supply chain management and is used to predict the future requirements of an organization to balance supply and demand. This is done by modeling the requirements in the form of a linear program. A linear program is used to obtain the optimal solution of a problem by defining an objective function and restricting it using multiple constraints. In this case, the linear program of a pet supplies manufacturer is under consideration. The optimal solution of multiple decision variables are computed with the help of Microsoft Excel, Tora and Lingo.