Impact of Transportation Problem’s Unbalance on Difference between Initial and Optimal Solution

Abstract

This paper deals with the impact of transportation problem's (TP) unbalance on difference between the initial and optimal solution. An analysis based on the executed numerical experiments roughly reveals how the unbalance of linear TP affects differences between objective function values of initial feasible solutions generated by most commonly applied approaches (such as least cost method and Vogel's approximation method) and optimal solutions. Furthermore, this research addresses the question whether the form and/or the number of decision variables has an influence on such differences. The obtained results have indicated scattered, but roughly visible linear relation between unbalance of linear TP and difference between objective function values of initial and optimal solutions.