AUTOMATIC SOLUTION OF TRANSPORT PROBLEMS USING A NEW ADD-IN TO EXCEL
Transport problem is a basic problem arising in transportation the products from several distributors to several clients. The solution of this problem consists of determining optimal transportation according to needed allocations the products. In fact, this problem describes with linear programming model which in general solves with simplex method. The algorithm of this method is a build-in tool for Excel – SOLVER. Unfortunately when it has the large amount of input data the filling of the Excel’s tables is a very difficult process. Thus, in this paper is suggested an add-in which visualize and make easier inputting the initial data. It is based on the Visual Studio tools for development the add-ins for MS Office. The main advantage of this solution consists of a user-friendly interface of the mathematical model of the problem which significantly makes easily and good visualization the input data and final solution in tables. As an illustrative example, the proposed add-in is applied for solving the real problem connected with transportation the products of pharmacy company.