1. You must not discuss this assessment with anyone. The answer script must be your own work, unaided by anyone else.

2. If you do include printouts from POM for Windows or any other software, ensure that these are provided with the prose solutions and interpretations. In any problem where you are requested to establish an answer using a specific technique, all calculations must be shown.

3. It is necessary to reference any material that you have included in your answer, in the descriptive sections.

problem 1:

A number of drivers of change have transformed the roles, functions and responsibilities of an operations manager over recent years. These drivers have not only been based on technological innovations but also on the need for organizations to develop competitive strategies in a global environment, and the demands of a more discerning customer. Select any 5 current issues and discuss how Operations Management strategies, techniques and systems have evolved in response to these driving forces.

(Limit your answer to 1,000 words)


problem 2:

Part 1:

It is often stated that drawing up a good layout involves a sense of intuition and, experience; and is sometimes more of an art than a science. However, in most instances, there are specific criteria or factors that must be considered. Select any organization you are familiar with, preferably a service based organization, and discuss what criteria and factors are important in designing the layout:

(Limit your answer for this to 750 words. Structure your answer according to the criteria or factors and include a diagram of the specific layout.)

Part 2:
Riverina Auto Parks assembles components which are required for a new model produced by an international car manufacturer. Their output is dependent on the demand of the car manufacturing plant and at this point of the time, 200 units per week are needed. Riverina has just purchased the equipment for assembling the component. Details of the processes involved are provided in table below

Tasks    Time    Preceding Tasks(S)
A            5                -
B            6                -
C            4                -
D            3                A
E            4                B
F            6                C
G            5                D
H            3                E
I             2                F
J             5                G
K             2                H
L             5               J. K
M            6                I, L

As the production manager of Riverina, you are requested to draw up an appropriate layout, by using an approach which combines both algorithmic and heuristic techniques. State clearly how many workstations can be formed. Determine also the processes (or tasks) in every work station and the efficiency of the line. Suppose an 8-hour working day, and a 5-day working week (Use the Assembly-Line balancing approach illustrated in main text and DE material Use POM for Windows only if you want to confirm some of your computation.)
   

problem 3:

Part A:

The Carbondale Hospital is considering the buy of a new ambulance. The decision will rest partly on the anticipated mileage to be driven next year. The miles driven throughout the past 5 years are as follows:

Year    Mileage
1    3,000
2    4,000
3    3,400
4    3,800
5    3,700

a) Forecast the mileage for next year using a 2-year moving average.

b) Find out the MAD based on the 2-year moving average forecast in part (a). (Hint: You will have only 3 years of matched data.)

c) Use a weighted 2-year moving average with weights of .4 and .6 to forecast subsequently year’s mileage. (The weight of .6 is for the most recent year.) What MAD results from using this approach to forecasting? (Hint: You will have only 3 years of matched data.)

d) find out the forecast for year 6 using exponential smoothing, an initial forecast for year 1 of 3,000 miles, and α = 0.3.

e) As well as mileage what other factors would you consider to make a decision whether a new ambulance must be purchased?

Part B:

The following table gives the map coordinates and the shipping loads for a set of cities which we wish to connect by a central hub.

City    Map Coordinate (x, y)    Shipping Load
A            (5, 10)                        5
B             (6, 8)                        10
C             (4, 9)                        15
D             (9, 5)                         5
E             (7, 9)                        15
F             (3, 2)                        10
G             (2, 6)                         5

a) Near which map coordinates must the hub be located?

b) If the shipments from city A triple, how does this alter the coordinates? PX

c) describe the assumptions behind the centre-of-gravity method. How can the model be used in a service facility location?
 

problem 4:

Part A:

A number of the technological developments in manufacturing are now in employ in services. An ex of this is the employ of wireless tracking systems – although they were originally used by manufacturing firms to track or locate their inventory, similar systems are found in service organizations. Choose any 5 new technologies, and elucidate how they are used in service organizations to improve their business processes.


(Limit your answer to 500 words. Attempt to identify modern technologies. A starting point for this can be found in the section “Technology in Services” in the main text in pages 297 to 302. However do not limit your answers to this section of the text; make use of the electronic databases of the Library or other sources to identify suitable exs)


Part B:

The administrator of the Life-Time Insurance Company HMO, Ms. Taylor, was anxious to solve potential problems before their new clinic opened in Austin, Texas. In Buffalo, New York, where the original clinic is located, the pharmacy had been extremely busy from the beginning, and long waiting times for prescriptions to be filled presented a very real problem.

The Buffalo HMO pharmacy was modern, spacious, and well designed. The peak time for prescriptions was between 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. During this period, prescriptions would back up, and the waiting time would increase. After 5 P.M., the staff would be reduced to one pharmacist and one technician, but the two had no trouble providing very timely service throughout the evening.

Ms. Taylor became acutely aware of the long waiting times after several complaints had been lodged. Each stated that the waiting time had exceeded 1 hour. The pharmacy is staffed with five persons on duty until 5 P.M. Ms. Taylor personally studied the tasks of all the pharmacy personnel. She noted the time required to accomplish each task, and her results are listed below. The prescriptions were filled in an assembly-line fashion by two technicians and three pharmacists, and each person performed only one task.

Activity                     Time in Seconds
Receive prescriptions          24
Type labels                      120
Fill prescriptions                 60
Check prescriptions            40
Dispense prescriptions         30

Draw a simple process flow diagram and attempt the following problems:

a. Identify the bottleneck activity, and show how capacity can be increased by using only two pharmacists and two technicians.
b. In addition to savings on personnel costs, what benefits does this arrangement have?

c. describe if you could further improve the overall process time and efficiency. In your answer state what additional resources, if any, would be needed or if lesser resources will be required.

(Limit your answer to 500 words. This excludes any diagrams as part of your answer)
 

problem 5:

Part A:

Discuss how quality is measured or determined in a product and in a service. describe also the implications of poor quality and costs associated with it. Illustrate your answer with suitable exs.

(Limit your answer to 500 words. Your exs should include at least 1 product and 1 service)


Part B:

An audit of a chocolate product manufactured by small unit in an organization which produces a number of cocoa-based products has revealed the possibility of some of the output being over-weight. The chocolate product is labeled that it has a net weight of 250 grams. The entire process is highly automated however semi-skilled workers are required to monitor the equipment and make fine adjustments over a typical day beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 5:00 p.m. Between 11:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. workers take turns in having lunch – while one group has a break of 45 minutes, the other group monitors and maintains all equipment.


Weight

Time            Unit 1    Unit 2    Unit 3    Unit 4
               
09:00 a.m.    251.1    250.6    250.9    251.2
               
10:00 a.m.    251.7    251.1    250.9    251.2
               
11:00 a.m.    251.1    251.6    250.7    250.3
               
12:00 p.m.    251.6    251.3    253.4    252.1
               
01:00 p.m.    250.7    251.3    251.3    250.9
               
02:00 p.m.    250.7    251.2    251.2    250.8
               
03:00 p.m.    251    251.2    251.4    251.2
               
04:00 p.m.    251.3    251.5    251.4    251.3
               
05:00 p.m.    251.9    252.2    251.8    251.9
               

The data, collected over a period of 8 hours, is provided above. Inspect the data and answer the following problems:

a. Elucidate whether the automated process is under control.

b. Elucidate what could be the reasons for possible under-weight or over-weight problems, if any.

c. What additional steps must the supervisor take to examine the issues involved in more detail, if he believes there might be a problem in the production line?

(Use the “x-bar” facility in the Quality Control module of POM for Windows for part a. For part b and part c, examine the relevant graph and the information provided in the problem before you make any recommendations, but ensure that you state any assumptions you have made. Limit your answer for Part C to 250 words)
 

problem 6:

Part A:

Every home football game for the last 8 years at Eastern State University has been sold out. The revenues from ticket sales are important; however the sale of food, beverages, and souvenirs has contributed greatly to the overall profitability of the football program. One particular souvenir is the football program for each game. The number of programs sold at each game is described by a probability distribution given in table below?


Number of         Probability
programs sold   
2,300                0.15
2,400                0.22
2,500                0.24
2,600                0.21
2,700                0.18

Each program costs $.80 to produce and sells for $2.00. Any programs that are not sold are donated to a recycling centre and do not produce any revenue.

a) Simulate the sales of programs at 10 football games. Use the random numbers listed below.

b) If the university decided to print 2,500 programs for each game, what would the average profits be for the 10 games that were simulated?

c) If the university decided to print 2,600 programs for each game, what would the average profits be for the 10 games that were simulated? Students can use the simulation module POM-QM for Windows for this problem.

Random numbers for problem 6 Part A: (a).

82, 57, 68, 28, 05, 94, 03, 11, 27, 29.


Part B:

Discuss how you will be able to use the Simulation Methodology in one of the following areas:

a. Project Planning – in determining the critical activities or the project duration

b. Inventory Control – in deriving the optimal order quantity of an item held in inventory.

(Limit your answer to Part B to 500 words)