An application of goal programming with penalty functions to transhipment problems

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the development of a goal programming (GP) model with penalty functions for management decision-making in oil refineries. The model also demonstrates how the three-sided penalty functions can be approximated to a continuous function and in this way incorporated into a GP model. To understand the general GP model of transhipment problems, this paper demonstrates the model by applying it to the problem of petroleum refinery industry.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the referees for their fruitful observations and valuable suggestions which helped in improving the presentation of the paper.