Scribd
Upload
165 views10 pages

Operation Research 1

1) It provides the probability of a customer taking more than 10 minutes or being served within 4 minutes at a bank with an average service rate of 20 customers per hour. 2) It explains concepts like arrival pattern, service discipline, service channel, and service distribution as they relate to queuing systems. 3) It calculates the optimal order quantity, number of orders per year, and savings from changing an inventory policy for a manufacturing company. 4) It analyzes a project network diagram, identifies the critical path, and calculates floats.

Uploaded by

cyrus
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
165 views10 pages

Operation Research 1

1) It provides the probability of a customer taking more than 10 minutes or being served within 4 minutes at a bank with an average service rate of 20 customers per hour. 2) It explains concepts like arrival pattern, service discipline, service channel, and service distribution as they relate to queuing systems. 3) It calculates the optimal order quantity, number of orders per year, and savings from changing an inventory policy for a manufacturing company. 4) It analyzes a project network diagram, identifies the critical path, and calculates floats.

Uploaded by

cyrus
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 10

MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF PURE AND APPLIED SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL & MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

UNIT CODE: BMA3201

UNIT TITLE: OPERATIONS RESEARCH

NAME: SHALDON ONYANDO DIANA

ADM NO: BBM/ 2018/ 20942


QUESTION ONE

a) In a bank, 20 customers on the average are served by a casher in an hour. If the


service time has exponential distributions, what is the probability that;
i) It will take more than 10 minutes to serve a customer?
Solution

Here µ = 20 customers/hour
t = 10 minutes = 1 hour
6
Probability that it will take more than 10 minutes to serve a customer
=e−ut =e−20 x 1 /6
= e−10 /3
= 0.0357
ii) A customer shall be free within 4 minutes?
Solution

Here µ = 20 customers/hour
Here t = 4 minutes = 1 hour
15
Probability that a customer shall be free within 4 minutes
¿ 1−e−ut =1−e−20 x1 /15

=1- e−4 / 3
=1- 0.264
= 0.736

b) Briefly explain what you understand by the following terms:


i. Arrival pattern- Arrival defines the way customers enter the system.
Typically the arrival is described by a random distribution of intervals.
ii. Service discipline - The response that is made to a customer order in terms
of fulfilling the demand on time in full quantity (OTF).
iii. Service channel- This are number of channels available for service in a
queuing system.
iv. Service distribution -Comprise service firms, their intermediaries, and their
customers
c) ABC Manufacturing Company purchases 9,000 parts of a machine for its annual
requirement, ordering one month’s usage at a time. Each part costs Kshs. 20. The
ordering cost per order is Kshs. 15 and the carrying charges are 15% of the average
inventory per year. You have been asked to suggest a more economical purchasing
policy for the company. What advice would you offer and how much would it save
the company per year?
Solution

Given data are:


Number of lubricants to be purchased, D = 9000 parts per year
Cost of part, Cs= Kshs. 20
Procurement cost, C3= Kshs. 15 per order
Inventory carrying cost, CI = C1= 15% of average inventory per year
= Kshs. 20 × 0.15 = Kshs. 3 per each part per year
Then, optimal quantity (EOQ),

Q0=√2C3D
√C1
Q0=√2 ×15× 300
√3
= 300 units
And Optimum order interval, (t0) =Q0in years
=1/30 years
= 1 × 365
30
=12 days

Minimum average cost = √2C3DC1

=√2 ×3 ×15 ×9000

= Kshs. 900

If the company follows the policy of ordering every month, then the annual ordering
cost is = Kshs 12 × 15 = Kshs. 180
Lot size of inventory each month = 9000/12 = 750

Average inventory at any time = Q/2 = 750/2 = 375


Therefore, storage cost at any time = 375 × C1 = 375 × 3 = Kshs. 1125
Total annual cost = 1125 + 180 = Kshs. 1305
Hence, the company should purchase 300 parts at time interval of 1/30 year instead of
ordering 750 parts each month. The net saving of the company will be = Kshs. 1305 –
Kshs. 900 = Kshs. 405 per year.

d) The following data for the activities of a project are available:


ACTIVITY IMMEDIATE DURATION (DAYS)
PREDECESSOR
A - 6
B - 4
C - 7
D A,B,C 5
E A,B,C 6
F D 9
G E 4
H F,G 8
I F,G 6
J H 7

Required:
i. Draw the network, number the nodes, find the project completion time and
calculate total, free and independent floats for the activities

Critical path = B-> D-> F-> H-> J


4 5 9 8 7
= 32 weeks
Total = Critical path- non-critical path
= 32-6
= 26
Free= 32- 6-4
= 22
Independent = 6-0
=0
ii. When the activity duration of G is doubled, identify the critical path
C-> E-> G-> I

e) Define the following terms as used in game theory:


i) Dominance- occurs when one strategy is better than another strategy for
one player, no matter how that player's opponents may play

ii) Saddle point-  is said to exist when the maximum of row minimum
coincides with the minimum of the column maxima in a payoff matrix

iii) Mixed strategy- is an assignment of a probability to each pure strategy

iv) Value of the game- The value of the game, denoted by v, is


the value that a player, say Player 1, is guaranteed to at least win if he sticks
to the designated optimal mix of strategies no matter what mix of strategies
Player 2 uses
f) Consider the two person zero sum game between players A and B given the
following pay-off table:
  Player B Strategies
    1 2 3 4
Player A 1 2 2 3 -1
Strategies 2 4 3 2 6
Required:
i) Using the maximin and minimax values, is it possible to determine the value
of the game? Give reasons.
Solution
The payoff table is as follows
It is not possible to determine the value of the game because player A's strategy does
not result to player B's strategy. There is no saddle point. In this case a mixed strategy is
adopted to determine the value of the game.
ii) Use graphical methods to determine optimal mixed strategy for player A and
determine the value of the game.
Solution

The value of the game is determined as the highest point of the shaded area (shown on
the diagram by an arrow).

This represents the highest loss on average that player A can have given player B’s
winnings. This point can be determined by extracting a 2 x 2 matrix made up of the
lines that intersect to make the point. In this case the matrix is as follows:
So the optimal mixed strategy for the game is
Player A X= 1, 1-x = 1
2 2

Player B Y= 1, 1-y = 1
2 2
Value of the game is obtained by substituting the mixed strategy in the expression for
expected value of the game as follows

QUESTION TWO
a) Discuss FIVE limitations in a queuing model
Solution
(i) The possibility that the waiting space may in fact be limited.
(ii) Another possibility is that arrival rate is state dependent.
(iii) Another practical limitation of the model is that the arrival process is not
stationary.
(iv) The population of customers may not be infinite and the queuing discipline
may not be FCFS
(v) Services may not be rendered continuously
(vi) The queuing system may not have reached the steady state.

b) The milk plant at a city distributes its products by trucks, loaded at the loading
dock. It has its own fleet of trucks plus trucks of a private transport company.
This transport company has complained that sometime its trucks have to wait in
line and thus the company loses money paid for a truck and driver that is only
waiting. The company has asked the milk plant management either to go in for a
second loading dock or discount prices equivalent to the waiting time. The
following data are available:
Average arrival rate (all trucks) = 3 per hour
Average service rate = 4 per hour
The transport company has provided 40% of the total number of trucks. Assuming
that these rates are random according to Poisson distribution, determine;
i. The probability that a truck has to wait
Solution
P = λ = 3 = 0.75
µ 4
ii. The waiting time of a truck that waits
Solution
Wn = 1
µ-λ

=1=1
4-3 1
= 1 hour
iii. The expected waiting time of company trucks per day
Solution
Trucks/day x % of company trucks x expected waiting time per truck
= (3 x 8) x (0.40) x λ
µ (µ-λ)
= 24 x 0.40 x 3
4 (4-3)
= 7.2 hours/day

QUESTION THREE
a) Define Inventory. List any two advantages and two disadvantages of having
inventories
Solution
Inventory is an accounting term that refers to goods that are in various stages of being
made ready for sale, including: Finished goods (that are available to be sold) Work-in-
progress (meaning in the process of being made) Raw materials (to be used to produce
more finished goods)
Advantages of inventories
(i) Save money
(ii) Satisfy customers
Disadvantages of inventories
(i) Poor turnover
(ii) High costs

b) A particular item has a demand of 9,000 units per year. The cost of one
procurement is Kshs. 100 and the holding cost per unit is Kshs. 2.40 per year.
The replacement is instantaneous and no shortages are allowed. Determine:
(i) The economic lot size
Solution

R = 9000 units/year

C3 = Kshs. 100/procurement, C1 = Kshs. 2.40/unit/year

Q0=√2C3D
√C1
Q0=√2 ×100× 9000
√2. 40
= 866 units/procurement
(ii) The number of orders per year

Solution

No= 1/t0 =√2.40 × 9000


√2 x 100
= √108
= 10.4 orders/year
(iii) The time between orders

Solution

to = 1/n0 =1/10.4

= 0.0962 years

= 1.15 months between procurement

(iv) The total cost per year if the cost of one unit is Kshs. 1.00

Solution

= 9000 + 2080

= Kshs 11080/year

References
Mahlous, A. R., & Tounsi, M. (2016). Operation research based techniques in wireless
sensors networks. Communications and Network, 9(1), 54-70.

Arndt, S. G., Klement, S., Saske, B., & Stelzer, R. H. (2018). Machine Operation
Research–Product and Machine Data Integration. Industry 4.0, 3(2), 58-61.

You might also like