Questions from General Operations Management

Q: Customers arrive at a local 7–11 store at the rate

Customers arrive at a local 7–11 store at the rate of ( = 40 per hour (and follow a Poisson process). The only employee in the store can check them out at a rate of ( = 60 per hour (following an expon...

Q: Due to a recent increase in business, a paralegal must now

Due to a recent increase in business, a paralegal must now process an average of 20 legal briefs per day (assume a Poisson distribution). It takes him approximately 20 minutes to prepare each brief (a...

Q: At the start of football season, the ticket office gets very

At the start of football season, the ticket office gets very busy the day before the first game. Customers arrive at the rate of four every 10 minutes, and the average time to transact business is 2 m...

Q: Cynthia Knott’s Car Wash is open 6 days a week, but

Cynthia Knott’s Car Wash is open 6 days a week, but its busiest day is always Saturday. From historical data, Cynthia estimates that dirty cars arrive at the rate of 20 per hour all day Saturday. With...

Q: Dr. Tarun Gupta, a Michigan vet, is running a

Dr. Tarun Gupta, a Michigan vet, is running a rabies vaccination clinic for dogs at the local grade school. Tarun can “shoot” a dog every 3 minutes. It is estimated that the dogs will arrive independe...

Q: The pharmacist at Arnold Palmer Hospital, Wende Huehn-Brown,

The pharmacist at Arnold Palmer Hospital, Wende Huehn-Brown, receives 12 requests for prescriptions each hour, Poisson distributed. It takes her a mean time of 4 minutes to fill each, following a nega...

Q: Calls arrive at Lynn Ann Fish’s hotel switchboard at a rate of

Calls arrive at Lynn Ann Fish’s hotel switchboard at a rate of 2 per minute. The average time to handle each is 20 seconds. There is only one switchboard operator at the current time. The Poisson and...

Q: Automobiles arrive at the drive-through window at the downtown Baton

Automobiles arrive at the drive-through window at the downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, post office at the rate of 4 every 10 minutes. The average service time is 2 minutes. The Poisson distribution is...

Q: Virginia’s Ron McPherson Electronics Corporation retains a service crew to repair machine

Virginia’s Ron McPherson Electronics Corporation retains a service crew to repair machine breakdowns that occur on average (=3 per 8-hour workday (approximately Poisson in nature). The crew can servic...

Q: Neve Commercial Bank is the only bank in the town of York

Neve Commercial Bank is the only bank in the town of York, Pennsylvania. On a typical Friday, an average of 10 customers per hour arrive at the bank to transact business. There is currently one teller...