Solving Solid Transportation Problem with Multi-Choice Cost and Stochastic Supply and Demand

In this chapter, the authors propose a new approach to analyze the Solid Transportation Problem (STP). This new approach considers the multi-choice programming into the cost coefficients of objective function and stochastic programming, which is incorporated in three constraints, namely sources, destinations, and capacities constraints, followed by Cauchy’s distribution for solid transportation problem. The multi-choice programming and stochastic programming are combined into a solid transportation problem, and this new problem is called Multi-Choice Stochastic Solid Transportation Problem (MCSSTP). The solution concepts behind the MCSSTP are based on a new transformation technique that will select an appropriate choice from a set of multi-choice, which optimize the objective function. The stochastic constraints of STP converts into deterministic constraints by stochastic programming approach. Finally, the authors construct a non-linear programming problem for MCSSTP, and by solving it, they derive an optimal solution of the specified problem. A realistic example on STP is considered to illustrate the methodology.