How to start solving the transport problem?

Question

Mathematics

There is a task:
There are several factories - suppliers producing some products, and several consumers using these products. The power of suppliers, the needs of consumers and the cost of delivering one product from any supplier to any consumer are given in the assignments. Determine the transportation plan that has the minimum cost for what:
* Create two calculation tables: "Transportation plan" and "Costs". In the "Transportation plan" table, the cells are filled with arbitrary numbers, instead of which, after calling and executing the "Search for a solution" mode, numbers appear that are solutions to the problem;
* In the second table "Transportation costs" find the optimal transportation plan using the add-in "Search for a solution", setting the objective function, changeable cells and restrictions;
* Create a diagram illustrating the optimal transportation plan.
Where to start the solution: The first part of the task is not clear, I don’t even know where to dig. I understand that this is a transport task, but where to start (((

Answer 1

It is similar in description to the traveling salesman problem. Accordingly, google "solution of the traveling salesman problem"