An Approach for Solving the Fixed Charge Transportation Problems

Abstract

This paper presents modified Vogel’s method that solves the fixed charge transportation problems, the relaxed transportation problem proposed by Balinski in 1961 to find an approximate solution for the fixed charge transportation problem (FCTP). This approximate solution is considered as a lower limit for the optimal solution of FCTP. This paper developed the modified Vogel’s method to find an approximate solution used as a lower limit for the FCTP. This is better than Balinski’s method in 1961. My approach relies on applying Vogel’s approximation method to the relaxed transportation problem. In addition, an illustrative numerical example is used to prove my hypothesis.