One of the most important and successful applications of quantitative
analysis to solving business problems has been in the
physical distribution of products, commonly referred to as transportation
problems. Basically, the purpose is to minimize the cost
of shipping goods from one location to another so that the needs of
each arrival area are met and every shipping location operates
within its capacity. However, quantitative analysis has been used
for many problems other than the physical distribution of goods.
For example, it has been used to efficiently place employees at
certain jobs within an organization. (This application sometimes is
called the assignment problem.)