One of the products of Edwards Lifesciences (EL) is artificial heart valves made from the heart valves of pigs.8 Different sizes of valves are required. However, the size of a pig's heart valve cannot be ascertained before the heart is purchased and opened. Therefore, EL has a mismatch problem: shortages of some sizes and excess of others. A program was established to document the size distribution of valves supplied by each supplier, and purchases were made from those suppliers with the needed sizes. Linear programming was used to determine the set of the suppliers that collectively satisfied EL's demand. Suppose EL purchases pig valves from three suppliers. The cost and size mix of the valves purchased from each supplier are given in the table below. Each month EL places one order with each supplier. Suppose next month, 250 large, 300 medium, and 100 small valves are needed. Formulate an LP that can be used to minimize the cost of acquiring the needed valves and use Excel's Solver to solve it.

Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
6th Edition
ISBN:9781285869681
Author:Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
Publisher:Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
ChapterC: Cases
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 5.2SC: Scenario 3 Ben Gibson, the purchasing manager at Coastal Products, was reviewing purchasing...
icon
Related questions
icon
Concept explainers
Topic Video
Question

One of the products of Edwards Lifesciences (EL) is artificial heart valves made from the heart valves of pigs.8 Different sizes of valves are required. However, the size of a pig's heart valve cannot be ascertained before the heart is purchased and opened. Therefore, EL has a mismatch problem: shortages of some sizes and excess of others. A program was established to document the size distribution of valves supplied by each supplier, and purchases were made from those suppliers with the needed sizes. Linear programming was used to determine the set of the suppliers that collectively satisfied EL's demand. Suppose EL purchases pig valves from three suppliers. The cost and size mix of the valves purchased from each supplier are given in the table below. Each month EL places one order with each supplier. Suppose next month, 250 large, 300 medium, and 100 small valves are needed. Formulate an LP that can be used to minimize the cost of acquiring the needed valves and use Excel's Solver to solve it.

Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 4 steps with 4 images

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Inventory management
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, operations-management and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
  • SEE MORE QUESTIONS
Recommended textbooks for you
Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781285869681
Author:
Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
Publisher:
Cengage Learning