Solved: The Avalon Floor Cleaner Company is trying to determine the number of salespeople

The Avalon Floor Cleaner Company is trying to determine the number of salespeople it should allocate to its three regions mdash the East, the Midwest, and the west. The company has 100 salespeople that it wants to assign to the three regions. The annual average unit sales volume achieved by a salesperson in each region is 25,000 in the East, 18,000 in the Midwest and 31,000 in the West. Because travel distances, cost of living, and other factors vary among the three regions, the annual cost of having a salesperson is $6,000 in the East, $11,000 in the Midwest, and $7,000 the West. The company has $700,000 budgeted for expenses. To ensure nationwide exposure its product, the company has decide that each region must have at least 10 salespeople. The company wants to know how many salespeople to allocate to each region to maximize total average units sold. Formulate a complete integer programming model for this problem How many salespeople are assigned to the East?

Expert Answer

Decision Variable:

Let, E = number of salesperson (SP) required in east region

M = number of salesperson (SP) required in Midwest region

W = number of salesperson (SP) required in West region

Objective Function: Objective is to maximize the total units sales of the company for the regions. The total sales function is given as follows:

Max Z = 25,000E + 18,000M + 31,000W

Subject To:

Constraint Equation
Sales Budget 6000E + 11000M + 7000W <= 700,000
Min. SP in East E >= 10
Min. SP in Midwest M >= 10
Min. SP in West W >= 10
Non-negative E, M, W >= 0
Integer DV E, M, and W all are integers

Excel Model and Solver Solution:

Copy-Paste following table in Excel:

Region East Midwest West
DV E M W
No. of Salesperson 0 0 0 Total Sales
Sales volume per salesperson 25000 18000 31000 =SUMPRODUCT($B$3:$D$3,B4:D4)
Subject to: LHS RHS
Sales Budget 6000 11000 7000 =SUMPRODUCT(B7:D7,$B$3:$D$3) <= 700000
Total No. of SPs 1 1 1 =SUMPRODUCT(B8:D8,$B$3:$D$3) <= 100
Min. SP in East 1 =SUMPRODUCT(B8:D8,$B$3:$D$3) >= 10
Min. SP in Midwest 1 =SUMPRODUCT(B9:D9,$B$3:$D$3) >= 10
Min. SP in West 1 =SUMPRODUCT(B10:D10,$B$3:$D$3) >= 10

Optimal Solution:

Region East Midwest West
No. of Salesperson 12 10 74
Total Sales Volume 2,774,000 Units

Part b: To the East region 12 salesperson are to assigned.

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