Optimization of Decision Variables (DV s ) in Products Mix of Foams Manufacturing Companies in Gombe State
The economic state of Nigeria warrants judicious use of scarce resources more than ever before. It is not understood if foam producing companies in Gombe state are operating optimally in the attainment of value creation for stakeholders. The research adopted a survey and exploratory research design. The primary source of data collection was used. The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and parametric inferential statistics of independent t-test for testing the difference between means. All computations were done via Excel Solver and SPSS (version 22). The results from the analysis showed among other findings that: foams manufacturing companies in Gombe State do not use an optimization model in product mix planning; foams manufacturing companies in Gombe State are not operating optimally although the optimum solution quantities and the existing solution quantities showed a correlation of 0.741 and a t-value of -0.751 signifying no significant difference in the mean values of operating at optimum solution level and operating at the existing solution level; We also found an 817% increase in the weekly revenue for company A given an optimum solution while for company B, it is a 922% increase in the weekly revenue. Among other recommendations, the study recommended that foams manufacturing companies in Gombe State should integrate optimization model in product mix planning in order to operate optimally. Moreover that foams manufacturing companies in Gombe State should always be willing to and should disclose valid information to students and researchers.
