Linear Programming

1 Linear Programming Application of Linear Programming under Conditions of Uncertainty The production manager’s claim that he cannot use linear programming because it only operates under conditions of certainty does not have any merit. Globalization and rapid advancement in technology have made uncertainty an inevitable part of life. Therefore, the production manager should not rule out the importance of the use of Linear Programming (LP) in the manufacturing process.

The production manager’s assumption that LP only functions under conditions of certainty is wrong. An effectively designed LP model is useful even in conditions of uncertainty because it facilitates planning, accurate decision making and resource allocation. LP is used to solve problems in different sectors such as finance, agriculture, military and marketing. These sectors contain uncertainties, yet LP is still effective (Haneveld, van der Vlerk, & Romeijnders, 2019). This negates the production manager’s claim that LP cannot be used because of the nature of the manufacturing industry.

Buy this excellently written paper or order a fresh one from www.ace-myhomework.com

2

The manager made the claim based on the fact that ideally, the LP model assumes that the number of variables and constraints are known and will remain constant. However, the LP model would be useful for resource allocation and decision making, even in uncertain conditions (Panik, 2018). In conditions of uncertainty, an LP model can be designed using the base case scenario.

The uncertainty can be managed by trying out a variety of scenarios, which would, in turn, help to create optimized values for the different situations that may occur. Therefore, for an LP model to be effective in uncertain conditions, it should be used in conjunction with scenario planning. To ascertain whether LP would be an effective decision-making tool, the manager can perform a sensitivity analysis. The production manager should, therefore, be open to using linear programming for resource planning and decision making in the manufacturing plant.

3 Reference Haneveld, W.K., van der Vlerk, M.H. & Romeijnders, W. (2019). Stochastic Programming: Modeling Decision Problems Under Uncertainty. Springer Nature.

Panik, M. J. (2018). Linear Programming and Resource Allocation Modeling. John Wiley & Sons.