Tots Toys makes a plastic tricycle that is composed of three major components: a handlebar-front wheel-pedal assembly, a seat and frame unit, and rear wheels. Please note that each tricycle requires two rear wheels, the front wheel is included in the front wheel-pedal assembly. The company has orders for 12,000 of these tricycles. Current schedules yield the following information: Requirements:
Component Plastic Time Space Cost to Manufacture Cost to Purchase
Front 3 10 2 8 12
Seat/Frame 4 6 2 6 9
Rear Wheels (each) 0.5 2 0.1 1 3
Available 50000 160000 30000
The company obviously does not have the resources available to manufacture everything needed for the completion of 12000 tricycles so has gathered purchase information for each component.
a) Use Excel's Solver to obtain the optimal solution. How many of each component should be manufactured vs. purchased? What is the overall cost? What are the binding constraints?
b) Upload a screenshot of the spreadsheet that you used to solve this problem.