A new algorithm for fuzzy transportation problems with trapezoidal fuzzy numbers under fuzzy circumstances

Abstract

Transportation problem is an important network structured linear programming problem that arises in several contexts and has deservedly received a great deal of attention in the literature. The central concept in this problem is to find the least total transportation cost of a commodity in order to satisfy demands at destinations using available supplies at origins in a crisp environment. In real life situations, the decision maker may not be sure about the precise values of the coefficients belonging to the transportation problem. The aim of this paper is to introduce a formulation of fully fuzzy transportation problem involving trapezoidal fuzzy numbers for the transportation costs and values of supplies and demands. We propose a two-step method for solving fuzzy transportation problem where all of the parameters are represented by triangular fuzzy numbers i.e. two interval transportation problems. Since the proposed approach is based on classical approach it is very easy to understand and to apply on real life transportation problems for the decision makers. To illustrate the proposed approach four application examples are solved. The results show that the proposed method is simpler and computationally more efficient than existing methods in the literature.

Keywords

• fully fuzzy linear programming
• transportation problem
• trapezoidal fuzzy numbers
• triangular fuzzy numbers