OPIM101 Assignment3 Spring2010

Section#(201,,215):_________

Instructor(circle):HillSaundersSerafiniSodhiRamachandranYeh

PennCardLastName:

PennCardFirstName:

Instructions:
Youonlyneedtosubmitthisonepagecoversheet.
Writeyouranswerinthecorrespondingcellsbelowonthispage.Thereisnopartialcredit.
Yourassignmentisdueby3pm,FRIDAY,February26,2010.
Lateassignmentsreceivezerocredit.
Youmustsubmityourownassignment.
YoumaysubmityourassignmentinthedesignateddropoffboxlocatedintheOPIMsuite,5th
floorofHuntsman.
Spring2010OPIM101studentsarepermittedtoconsultwithoneanotherwhileworkingon
thisassignment.
Makesureyouranswerisinthecorrectunits.Whenpossible,feelfreetousefractionalforms
insteadofdecimalforms.Forexample,7/9ratherthan0.7778.

Q3.1(students) Q3.6(milliseconds)

Q3.2(%) Q3.7(a,,e)

Q3.3(days) Q3.8(Actionand$Millions)

Q3.4(%) Q3.9($Millions)

Q3.5(minutes) Q3.10($Millions)
OPIM101 Assignment3 Spring2010
Q3.13.2MaxStampapprovesstudyabroaddocumentsforPenn.Studentsmustwaitinlinewiththeir
formsoutsideMax'soffice.OnestudentatatimeisallowedinhisofficeandMaxtakesprecisely25
minutes to evaluate each students set of documents. On average 2.2 students per hour go to his
office and they spend on average 140 minutes trying to get their forms approved (time waiting in
queueplustimeinMaxsofficehavinghimevaluatetheirdocuments).

Q3.1Onaverage,howmanystudentsarewaitingoutsideofMaxsoffice?Ignorestartofthedayand
endofthedayeffects.

Q3.2WhatisMaxsutilization?(Asa%)

Q3.3 Larry Ellison starts a company that manufacturers highend custom leather bags. He hires two
employees.Theydonotmakeabagunlesstheyhaveaconfirmedorderfromacustomerforthatbag.
Whentheyhaveanavailableorder,oneoftheemployeesmakesthebagfrombeginningtoend,and
they only work on one order at a time. The average production time of a bag is 1.8 days with a
standarddeviationof2.4days.Larryexpectstoreceiveonecustomerorderperdayonaverage.The
interarrivaltimesofordershaveacoefficientofvariationof1.

What is the expected duration, in days, between when an order is received and when production
begins on the bag (i.e. include the time waiting to start production but do not include the time in
production)?

Q3.43.5Asmallcallcenternormallyhas5employeesansweringcallswhileopen.Onaverage7calls
arriveevery5minuteswithaCVa=1.Undernormaloperatingconditionseachemployeeonaverage
handleseachcallin3.20minuteswithastandarddeviationof3.

Q3.4Onaverage,whatfractionoftheemployeesarenothandlingcalls?(Asa%).

Q3.5Today,oneemployeehasthefluandtheyneedtooperatewith4employeesduringthistime.
Themanagerinnervousthattheymaybesupplyconstrainedandsoshedirectsheremployeesto
hurryuptheirprocessingofcallstoday.Whatisthemaximumaverageprocessingtime(inminutes)
foreachcallthattheyneedtoachievetodaysothattheyhaveastablequeue(i.e.,theywillbesupply
constrainediftheirprocessingtimeishigherthanthistargetandtheywillbedemandconstrainedifit
islowerthanthistarget)?AssumeCVaandCVpdontchangeevenafterthepotentialchangein
processingtimes.

Q3.6Acomputerservercurrentlyhasaqueueof5jobs,sequencedfromAtoEwithAtheonethat
has been waiting the longest and E the one that was most recently received. The following table
providestheirprocessingtimesinmilliseconds:

A B C D E
Time(milliseconds) 8 85 25 60 5

OPIM101 Assignment3 Spring2010

Supposetheserverisdesignedtominimizetheaveragewaitingtimeacrossjobs(i.e.,timeinqueue
waiting to start processing). Ignore the amount of time these jobs have been already waiting and
supposetheserverisimmediatelyavailabletostartworkingononeofthejobsandtheserverisaware
of each jobs processing time. What is the minimum total time these five jobs will wait before
beginningprocessing(inmilliseconds)?(Additionaljobsmayormaynotarrivebeforetheprocessing
ofthesejobsiscompleted.)Forexample,ifAisprocessedfirstandBnext,thenAswaitwillbe0and
Bswaitwillbe8(thetimetocompleteA)sothetotaltimeforthesetwojobsaloneis0+8=8.

Q3.7 YourNurse (YN) Inc uses certified nurses to answer medical queries from customers over the
phone.WhenpatientscallintoYNtheyarefirstaskedtoprovidetheirzipcodewhichthenallowsYN
toroutetheircalltothecallcenternearesttothepatient(theyoperate10acrossthecountry).Which
single suggestion in the following list (and explanation) is most likely to reduce the average time
callerswaitbeforespeakingwithanurse?
a) Runanadvertisingcampaigntoincreasedemandandtobetterutilizetheirnurses.
b) Traintheirnursessothattheyspendmoretimeansweringthepatientsquestions.
c) Insteadofusingcallerszipcodes,routecallstothecallcenterwiththefewestcallerstohelp
prevent situations in which there are idle nurses at the same time that there are callers on
hold.
d) Playarecordingofusefulmedicalinformationwhilecallersareonholdsoastodecreasetheir
perceptionofhowlongtheyarewaiting.
e) Noneoftheabove

Q3.83.10MeredithDelgadoownsasoftwarestartupcompanythatpatentedsoftwarefororganizing
andplayingmusiconacomputer.Itappearsthatanumberofherpatentedfeatureswerecopiedina
competingproductbyMusicMan,alargesoftwarecompany.MeredithhassuedMusicManforpatent
infringement. With attorney fees and other expenses, the cost of going to trial (win or lose) is
expectedtobe$1million.Shefeelsthatshehasa65%chanceofwinning,inwhichcaseshewould
receive$4.5millionindamages.Ifshelosesincourt,shegetsnothing.Moreover,ifsheloses,thereis
a50%chancethatthejudgewouldorderMeredithtopaythecourtexpensesandlegalfeesincurred
byMusicMan(anadditional$1millioncost). Music ManSoftwarehasofferedtopayMeredith$1.5
milliontosettlethecaseoutofcourt.

Q3.8IfMeredithchoosestomaximizeherexpectedvalue,whatisMeredith'sdecision(GotoTrialor
Settle)ANDwhatistheexpectedmonetaryvalueofthatdecision?(in$Millions)

Q3.9Whatistheexpectedvalueofperfectinformationinthissituation?(in$Millions)

Q3.10Duetotheuncertaintyinwhethershewillwinattrial,Meredithcouldhireapatentattorneyas
a consultant to determine her odds for winning. The consultant will either predict that Merediths
caseiseither"Strong"or"Weak."IfshefeelsthecaseisStrongtheactualprobabilityofwinningat
trialis80%.IfshefeelsthecaseisWeak,theprobabilityofwinningdropsto10%.Unfortunately,
theconsultantisnotcheapshecharges$0.4million.IfMeredithhirestheconsultant,whatwould
beherexpectedpayoff?(In$Millions)