Describe a problem that can be solved by using the shortest-route model.
> Ashley’s Auto Top Carriers currently maintains plants in Atlanta and Tulsa that supply major distribution centers in Los Angeles and New York. Because of an expanding demand, Ashley has decided to open a third plant and has narrowed the
> The J. Mehta Company’s production manager is planning for a series of 1-month production periods for stainless steel sinks. The demand for the next 4 months is as follows: MONTH DEMAND FOR STAINLESS STEEL SINKS 1 ……………………………………………………… 120 2 ………………………………
> The B. Hall Real Estate Investment Corporation has identified four small apartment buildings in which it would like to invest. Mrs. Hall has approached three savings and loan companies regarding financing. Because Hall has been a good client in the past
> The three blood banks in Franklin County are coordinated through a central office that facilitates blood delivery to four hospitals in the region. The cost to ship a standard container of blood from each bank to each hospital is shown in the table on thi
> The state of Missouri has three major power-generating companies (A, B, and C). During the months of peak demand, the Missouri Power Authority authorizes these companies to pool their excess supply and to distribute it to smaller, independent power compa
> Finnish Furniture manufactures tables in facilities located in three cities—Reno, Denver, and Pittsburgh. The tables are then shipped to three retail stores located in Phoenix, Cleveland, and Chicago. Management wishes to develop a dist
> Northwest University is in the process of completing a computer bus network that will connect computer facilities throughout the university. The prime objective is to string a main cable from one end of the campus to the other (nodes 1–
> An air-conditioning manufacturer produces room air conditioners at plants in Houston, Phoenix, and Memphis. These are sent to regional distributors in Dallas, Atlanta, and Denver. The shipping costs vary, and the company would like to find the least-cost
> South Side Oil and Gas, a new venture in Texas, has developed an oil pipeline network to transport oil from exploration fields to the refinery and other locations. There are 10 pipelines (branches) in the network. The oil flow in hundreds of gallons and
> The Oakton River had long been considered an impediment to the development of a certain medium-sized metropolitan area in the Southeast. Lying to the east of the city, the river made it difficult for people living on its eastern bank to commute to jobs i
> For more than 75 years, New England Foundry, Inc., has manufactured wood stoves for home use. In recent years, with increasing energy prices, George Mathison, president of New England Foundry, has seen sales triple. This dramatic increase in sales has ma
> Northeastern Airlines is a regional airline serving nine cities in the New England states, as well as cities in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. While nonstop flights are available for some of the routes, connecting flights are often necessary. Th
> FB Badpoore Aerospace makes carbon brake discs for large airplanes with a proprietary “cross weave” of the carbon fibers. The brake discs are 4 feet in diameter but weigh significantly less than conventional ceramic br
> Dr. Adinombe Watage, deputy director of the Family Planning Research Center in Nigeria’s Over-the-River Province, was assigned the task of organizing and training five teams of field workers to perform educational and outreach activitie
> What are some of the questions that can be answered with PERT and CPM?
> A linear programming problem was developed, and the feasible region was found. If the additional restriction that all variables must be integers were added to the problem, how would the size of the feasible region change? How would the optimal value of t
> Explain how to determine the number of variables and constraints in a transportation problem when only the number of sources and the number of destinations are known.
> Is the transportation model an example of decision making under certainty or decision making under uncertainty? Why?
> Explain why a process can be out of control even though all the samples fall within the upper and lower control limits.
> When using a control chart, what are some patterns that would indicate that the process is out of control?
> Explain the difference between c-charts and p-charts.
> With the company expanding into several new markets in the coming months, Cable & Moore was anticipating a large increase in sales revenue. The future looked bright for this provider of television, telephone, and Internet services. However, managemen
> Explain the difference between control charts for variables and control charts for attributes.
> What is an absorbing state? Give several examples of absorbing states.
> What is an equilibrium condition? How do we know that we have an equilibrium condition, and how can we compute equilibrium conditions given the matrix of transition probabilities?
> Describe how we can use Markov analysis to make future predictions.
> What are the vector of state probabilities and the matrix of transition probabilities, and how can they be determined?
> List the assumptions that are made in Markov analysis.
> Give two examples of random variables that would be continuous and give two examples of random variables that would be discrete.
> Why might a manager be forced to use simulation instead of an analytical model in dealing with a problem of (a). inventory ordering policy? (b). ships docking in a port to unload? (c). bank teller service windows? (d). the U.S. economy?
> The Scott Corey accounting firm is installing a new computer system. Several things must be done to make sure the system works properly before all the accounts are put into the new system. The following table provides information about this project. How
> What might cause a process to be out of control?
> Why is the central limit theorem so important in quality control?
> What is the fundamental matrix, and how is it used in determining equilibrium conditions?
> In the simulation of an order policy for drills at Simkin’s Hardware, would the results (Table 13.8) change significantly if a longer period were simulated? Why is the 10-day simulation valid or invalid? Table 13.8: ORDER QUANTITY
> Discuss the concepts of verification and validation in simulation.
> What types of management problems can be solved more easily by quantitative analysis techniques other than simulation?
> List five of the simulation software tools that are available today.
> What is operational gaming? What is systems simulation? Give examples of how each may be applied.
> Do you think the application of simulation will increase strongly in the next 10 years? Why or why not?
> Why must the service rate be greater than the arrival rate in a single-channel queuing system?
> Describe how expected activity times and variances can be computed in a PERT network.
> What is an activity? What is an event? What is an immediate predecessor?
> Why is linear programming useful in CPM crashing?
> What are deviational variables? How do they differ from decision variables in traditional LP problems?
> What is meant by satisficing, and why is the term often used in conjunction with goal programming?
> What does it mean to rank goals in goal programming? How does this affect the problem’s solution?
> List the advantages and disadvantages of solving integer programming problems by (a) rounding off and (b) enumeration.
> Explain how the maximal-flow model might be viewed as a transshipment model.
> Why is a computer necessary in conducting a real world simulation?
> Andrew–Carter, Inc. (A–C), is a major Canadian producer and distributor of outdoor lighting fixtures. Its fixture is distributed throughout North America and has been in high demand for several years. The company opera
> Explain the purpose of the transshipment constraints in the linear program for a transshipment model.
> Explain what it means for an assignment model to be balanced.
> What is the waiting line problem? What are the components in a waiting line system?
> Compare the similarities and differences of linear and goal programming.
> Donna Shader, manager of the Winter Park Hotel, is considering how to restructure the front desk to reach an optimum level of staff efficiency and guest service. At present, the hotel has five clerks on duty, each with a separate waiting line, during the
> Statewide Development Corporation has built a very large apartment complex in Gainesville, Florida. As part of the student- oriented marketing strategy that has been developed, it is stated that if any problems with plumbing or air conditioning are exper
> Southwestern University (SWU), located in the small town of Stephenville, Texas, is experiencing increased interest in its football program now that a big-name coach has been hired. The increase in season ticket sales for the upcoming season means additi
> After six months of study, much political arm wrestling, and some serious financial analysis, Dr. Martin Starr, president of Southwestern University, had reached a decision. To the delight of its students and to the disappointment of its athletic booster
> Schank Marketing Research has just signed contracts to conduct studies for four clients. At present, three project managers are free for assignment to the tasks. Although all are capable of handling each assignment, the times and cost to complete the stu
> Jim Fox, an executive for Rentall Trucks, could not believe it. He had hired one of the town’s best law firms, Folley, Smith, and Christensen. Their fee for drawing up the legal contracts was over $50,000. Folley, Smith, and Christensen had omitted one i
> What are the advantages and limitations of simulation models?
> In going from Quincy to Old Bainbridge, there are 10 possible roads that George Olin can take. Each road can be considered a branch in the shortest-route problem. (a). Using the following table, determine the route from Quincy (node 1) to Old Bainbridge
> Grey Construction would like to determine the least expensive way of connecting houses it is building with cable TV. It has identified 11 possible branches or routes that could be used to connect the houses. The cost in hundreds of dollars and the branch
> The German towns around the Black Forest are represented by nodes in the network below. The distances between towns are shown in kilometers. Find the shortest route from city 1 to city 16. If flooding in cities 7 and 8 forces closure of all roads leading
> The numbers in the network below represent thousands of gallons per hour as they flow through a chemical processing plant. Two terminals in the chemical processing plant, represented by nodes 6 and 7, have had problems recently, and repairs on these are
> The road system between the hotel complex on International Drive (node 1) and Disney World (node 11) in Orlando, Florida, is shown in the network below. The numbers by the nodes represent the traffic flow in hundreds of cars per hour. What is the maximum
> The Krampf Lines Railway Company specializes in coal handling. On Friday, April 13, Krampf had empty cars at the following towns in the quantities indicated: TOWN SUPPLY OF CARS Morgantown ………
> The city of New Berlin is considering making several of its streets one-way (see the network on this page). Also, due to increased property taxes and an aggressive road development plan, the city of New Berlin has been considering increasing the road cap
> Bechtold Construction is in the process of installing power lines to a large housing development. Steve Bechtold wants to minimize the total length of wire used, which will minimize his costs. The housing development is shown as a network on this page. E
> The Saussy Lumber Company ships pine flooring to three building-supply houses from its mills in Pineville, Oak Ridge, and Mapletown. Determine the best transportation schedule for the data given in the table on this page. TO SUPPLY SUPPLY SUPPLY MILL
> NASA’s astronaut crew currently includes 10 mission specialists who hold a doctoral degree in either astrophysics or astromedicine. One of these specialists will be assigned to each of the 10 f lights scheduled for the upcoming nine mon
> Do you think the Poisson distribution, which assumes independent arrivals, is a good estimation of arrival rates in the following queuing systems? Defend your position in each case. (a). Cafeteria in your school (b). Barbershop (c). Hardware store (d).
> Haifa Instruments, an Israeli producer of portable kidney dialysis units and other medical products, develops an 8-month aggregate plan. Demand and capacity (in units) are forecast as shown in the table on this page. The cost of producing each dialysis u
> The Patricia Garcia Company is producing seven new medical products. Each of Garcia’s eight plants can add one more product to its current line of medical devices. The unit manufacturing costs for producing the different parts at the ei
> The Gleaming Company has just developed a new dishwashing liquid and is preparing for a national television promotional campaign. The firm has decided to schedule a series of 1-minute commercials during the peak homemaker audience viewing hours of 1 p.m.
> The hospital administrator at St. Charles General must appoint head nurses to four newly established departments: urology, cardiology, orthopedics, and obstetrics. In anticipation of this staffing problem, she had hired four nurses: Hawkins, Condriac, Ba
> Roscoe Davis, chairman of a college’s business department, has decided to apply a new method in assigning professors to courses next semester. As a criterion for judging who should teach each course, Professor Davis reviews the past two
> In Problem 9-24, the minimum travel distance was found. To see how much better this solution is than the assignments that might have been made, find the assignments that would give the maximum distance traveled. Compare this total distance with the dista
> Baseball umpiring crews are currently in four cities where three-game series are beginning. When these are finished, the crews are needed to work games in four different cities. The distances (miles) from each of the cities where the crews are currently
> Coast-to-Coast Airlines is investigating the possibility of reducing the cost of fuel purchases by taking advantage of lower fuel costs in certain cities. Since fuel purchases represent a substantial portion of operating expenses for an airline, it is im
> Daniel Grady is the financial advisor for a number of professional athletes. An analysis of the long-term goals for many of these athletes has resulted in a recommendation to purchase stocks with some of the income that they have set aside for investment
> A paper mill produces rolls of paper that are 10 inches wide and 100 feet long. These rolls are used for creating narrower rolls of paper that are used in cash registers, automatic teller machines (ATMs), and other devices. The narrower widths (2.5, 3, a
> Give an example of a situation in which the waiting time cost would be based on waiting time in the queue. Give an example of a situation in which the waiting time cost would be based on waiting time in the system.
> In the Low Knock Oil Company blending problem in Section 8.6, it was assumed that one barrel of crude would result in one barrel of gasoline as the final product. In processing one barrel of crude, a typical gasoline yield is about 0.46 barrel, although
> Prepare a written report to the CEO of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Problem 8.18 on the expansion of the hospital. Round off your answers to the nearest integer. The format in which you present the results is important. The CEO is a busy person and wants to be
> Mt. Sinai Hospital in New Orleans is a large, private, 600-bed facility, complete with laboratories, operating rooms, and x-ray equipment. In seeking to increase revenues, Mt. Sinai’s administration has decided to build a 90-bed addition on a portion of
> Refer to Problem 8.16. Find the cause of the difficulty and recommend how to adjust it. Then solve the problem again. Problem 8.16: Amalgamated Products has just received a contract to construct steel body frames for automobiles that are to be produced
> Amalgamated Products has just received a contract to construct steel body frames for automobiles that are to be produced at a new Japanese auto factory in Tennessee. The Japanese auto manufacturer has strict quality control standards for all of its compo
> Margaret Black’s family owns five parcels of farmland, referred to as the southeast sector, north sector, northwest sector, west sector, and southwest sector. Margaret is involved primarily in growing wheat, alfalfa, and barley crops an
> South Central Utilities has just announced the August 1 opening of its second nuclear generator at its Baton Rouge, Louisiana, nuclear power plant. Its personnel department has been directed to determine how many nuclear technicians need to be hired and
> Quitmeyer Electronics Incorporated manufactures the following six microcomputer peripheral devices: internal modems, external modems, graphics circuit boards, CD drives, hard disk drives, and memory expansion boards. Each of these technical products requ
> Kathy Roniger, campus dietitian for a small Idaho college, is responsible for formulating a nutritious meal plan for students. For an evening meal, she feels that the following five meal-content requirements should be met: (1) between 900 and 1,500 calo
> The I. Kruger Paint and Wallpaper Store is a large retail distributor of the Supertrex brand of vinyl wall coverings. Kruger will enhance its citywide image in Miami if it can sell more rolls of Supertrex next year than other local stores. It is able to
> The Arden County, Maryland, superintendent of education is responsible for assigning students to the three high schools in his county. He recognizes the need to bus a certain number of students, for several sectors of the county are beyond walking distan
> Management of Sundown Rent-a-Car (see Problem 8.8) has decided that perhaps the cost during the six month period is not the appropriate cost to minimize because the agency may still be obligated to additional months on some leases after that time. For ex
> Sundown Rent-a- Car, a large automobile rental agency operating in the Midwest, is preparing a leasing strategy for the next six months. Sundown leases cars from an automobile manufacturer and then rents them to the public on a daily basis. A forecast of
> The advertising director for Diversey Paint and Supply, a chain of four retail stores on Chicago’s North Side, is considering two media possibilities. One plan is for a series of half-page ads in the Sunday Chicago Tribune newspaper, and the other is for
> Eddie Kelly is running for reelection as mayor of a small town in Alabama. Jessica Martinez, Kelly’s campaign manager during this election, is planning the marketing campaign, and there is some stiff competition. Martinez has selected f
> The Kleenglass Corporation makes a dishwasher that has excellent cleaning power. This dishwasher uses less water than most competitors, and it is extremely quiet. Orders have been received from several retail stores for delivery at the end of each of the
