Irwin’s sells a particular model of fan, with most of the sales being made in thesummer months. Irwin’s makes a one-time purchase of the fans prior to eachsummer season at a cost of $40 each and sells each fan for $60. Any fans unsoldat the end of the summer season are marked down to $29 and sold in a special fallsale. Virtually all marked-down fans are sold. The following is the number of salesof fans during the past 10 summers: 30, 50, 30, 60, 10, 40, 30, 30, 20, 40.a. Estimate the mean and the variance of the demand for fans each summer.b. Assume that the demand for fans each summer follows a normal distribution,with mean and variance given by what you obtained in part (a). Determine theoptimal number of fans for Irwin’s to buy prior to each summer season.c. Based on the observed 10 values of the prior demand, construct an empiricalprobability distribution of summer demand and determine the optimal numberof fans for Irwin’s to buy based on the empirical distribution.d. Based on your results for parts (b) and (c), would you say that the normaldistribution provides an adequate approximation?

Practical Management Science
6th Edition
ISBN:9781337406659
Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:WINSTON, Wayne L.
Chapter2: Introduction To Spreadsheet Modeling
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 20P: Julie James is opening a lemonade stand. She believes the fixed cost per week of running the stand...
icon
Related questions
icon
Concept explainers
Topic Video
Question

Irwin’s sells a particular model of fan, with most of the sales being made in the
summer months. Irwin’s makes a one-time purchase of the fans prior to each
summer season at a cost of $40 each and sells each fan for $60. Any fans unsold
at the end of the summer season are marked down to $29 and sold in a special fall
sale. Virtually all marked-down fans are sold. The following is the number of sales
of fans during the past 10 summers: 30, 50, 30, 60, 10, 40, 30, 30, 20, 40.
a. Estimate the mean and the variance of the demand for fans each summer.
b. Assume that the demand for fans each summer follows a normal distribution,
with mean and variance given by what you obtained in part (a). Determine the
optimal number of fans for Irwin’s to buy prior to each summer season.
c. Based on the observed 10 values of the prior demand, construct an empirical
probability distribution of summer demand and determine the optimal number
of fans for Irwin’s to buy based on the empirical distribution.
d. Based on your results for parts (b) and (c), would you say that the normal
distribution provides an adequate approximation?

Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 4 steps with 3 images

Blurred answer
Knowledge Booster
Inventory management
Learn more about
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, operations-management and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
Similar questions
  • SEE MORE QUESTIONS
Recommended textbooks for you
Practical Management Science
Practical Management Science
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781337406659
Author:
WINSTON, Wayne L.
Publisher:
Cengage,
Operations Management
Operations Management
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781259667473
Author:
William J Stevenson
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Operations and Supply Chain Management (Mcgraw-hi…
Operations and Supply Chain Management (Mcgraw-hi…
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781259666100
Author:
F. Robert Jacobs, Richard B Chase
Publisher:
McGraw-Hill Education
Business in Action
Business in Action
Operations Management
ISBN:
9780135198100
Author:
BOVEE
Publisher:
PEARSON CO
Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Purchasing and Supply Chain Management
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781285869681
Author:
Robert M. Monczka, Robert B. Handfield, Larry C. Giunipero, James L. Patterson
Publisher:
Cengage Learning
Production and Operations Analysis, Seventh Editi…
Production and Operations Analysis, Seventh Editi…
Operations Management
ISBN:
9781478623069
Author:
Steven Nahmias, Tava Lennon Olsen
Publisher:
Waveland Press, Inc.