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Linear Programming, An Objective, Constraints, Alternative And Linearity

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In order to run an organization to its best ability, operations managers can rely on linear programming as a way to guide them in to better decision making in a more confident fashion. Linear programming gets the most effective use out of an establishment’s resources, this is always the ideal condition for companies, and nobody wants to be knowingly throwing resources down the drain. In order for an operations manager to successfully administer a linear programming equation, the OM must have four requirements: an objective, constraints, alternative and linearity. An objective, because linear programming is formulated to maximize or minimize some quantity, this is also called the objective function. A constraint is required because having infinity options is just not logical and the OM needs to have boundaries for the objective. The next requirement, alternative, is needed because without an alternative there would be no question, ergo there would be no need for linear programming. The final requirement, linearity, is expressed in the equation as an inequality, it implies proportionality and additivity. Once an OM has these four requirement they can get to work formulating the linear program. The most common problems are product-mix problems, or two or more products produced using a limited resource. An operations manager would start by summarizing the information that is required to solve the issue at hand. An easy way to do this is to have a table with rows and columns

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