The Porsche Club of America sponsors driver education events that provide high-performance driving instruction on actual race tracks. Because safety is a primary consideration at such events, many owners elect to install roll bars in their cars. Deegan Industries manufactures two types of roll bars for Porsches. Model DRB is bolted to the car using existing holes in the car's frame. Model DRW is a heavier roll bar that must be welded to the car's frame. Model DRB requires 20 pounds of a special high alloy steel, 40 minutes of manufacturing time, and 60 minutes of assembly time. Model DRW requires 25 pounds of the special high alloy steel, 100 minutes of manufacturing time, and 40 minutes of assembly time. Deegan's steel supplier indicated that at most 36,000 pounds of the high-alloy steel will be available next quarter. In addition, Deegan estimates that 2,000 hours of manufacturing time and 1,700 hours of assembly time will be available next quarter. The profit contributions are $200 per unit for model DRB and $280 per unit for model DRW. The linear programming model for this problem is as follows: class="msonormal">
Max 200DRB + 280DRW

s. t.

40DRB + 100DRW <= 120,000 Manufacturing minutes
60DRB + 40DRW <= 96,000 Assembly minutes
DRB, DRW <= 0
Optimal Objective Value = 424000.00000

Variable Value Reduced Cost

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DRB 1000.00000 0.00000
DRW 800.00000 0.00000
Constraint Slack/ Surplus Dual Value

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 0.00000 8.80000
2 0.00000 0.60000
3 4000.00000 0.00000

Objective Allowable Allowable

Variable Coef?cient Increase Decrease

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DRB 200.00000 24.00000 88.00000
DRW 280.00000 220.00000 30.00000
RHS Allowable Allowable
Constraint Value Increase Decrease

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1 40000.00000 909.09091 10000.00000
2 120000.00000 40000.00000 5714.28571
3 96000.00000 Infnite 4000.00000

Required:
a. What are the optimal solution and the total profit contribution?
b. Another supplier offered to provide Deegan Industries with an additional 500 pounds of the steel alloy at $2 per pound. Should Deegan purchase the additional pounds of the steel alloy?