Concept explainers
A
Interpretation: Average utilization of the three teller service system should be calculated.
Concept Introduction: Utilization rate is average the time spend by a person in productivity activity. It is calculated as percentage.
B
Interpretation: The probability that no customers are waiting in line should be calculated.
Concept Introduction: Waiting line model is used to calculate the performance. The probability in a waiting line requires waiting for service.
C
Interpretation: The average number of customers should be calculated.
Concept Introduction: Waiting line model is used to calculate the performance. The probability in a waiting line requires waiting for service.
D
Interpretation: The average time for a customer waiting in line should be calculated.
Concept Introduction: Waiting line model is used to calculate the performance. The probability in a waiting line requires waiting for service.
E
Interpretation: The number of customers at station and in line should be calculated.
Concept Introduction: Waiting line model is used to calculate the performance. The probability in a waiting line requires waiting for service.
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CUSTOM ACCESS
- During nearly four decades of business operations, Memphis-based FedEx has earned a reputation for reliable, on-time delivery of packages to homes and offices around the country. Founder Fred Smith originally focused on overnight deliveries, choosing Memphis as the company’s headquarters because the airport rarely closes due to bad weather. With FedEx’s planes departing and arriving on schedule nearly all the time, its express shipments usually remained on schedule, then and now. To reassure customers that delivery will take place when and where promised, the firm offers a money-back guarantee on time-sensitive express shipments, among other services. FedEx has steadily expanded its portfolio of services since the 1970s. Its original overnight express delivery is currently available to U.S. customers in various forms, including “first-overnight” delivery, next-morning delivery, next-afternoon delivery, and budget-pleasing two- or three-day delivery. The company’s services also include cost-effective ground delivery for parcels and extra-speedy same-day delivery for urgent deliveries within 1,800 cities. Over the years, FedEx has widened its delivery network to more than 220 countries. It has purchased more cargo jets and acquired specialized shipping firms, including Tiger International, Roberts Express, RPS, and TNT Express, to support global growth. For international business customers needing products, parts, or raw materials shipped across countries or continents, the company now offers time-saving services such as commercial freight forwarding and cross-border logistical support. To add the convenience of local drop-off and pickup points for U.S. consumers and small businesses, FedEx acquired the Kinko’s office services company in 2004 and later rebranded it as FedEx Office. This acquisition also added printing and copying to the menu of services offered. Then the company arranged for large U.S. retailers such as Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, and Safeway to accept packages for shipment and receive package delivery for customer pickup in thousands of store locations. This means people who want to send a package can head to a nearby retailer and ship where they shop, rather than making a separate trip to the FedEx location. It’s also a safe alternative for packages to be picked up by people who don’t want FedEx shipments left by the front door. Another service FedEx offers to small and mid-sized businesses, including retailers, is FedEx Fulfillment. The purpose is to expedite order fulfillment by having each business store its products in a FedEx warehouse. Then, when the business’s customers place orders, FedEx puts the products into boxes bearing the business’s own logo and ships directly to those customers. The business doesn’t need a separate warehouse or staff for fulfillment, and packages are on their way to customers more quickly because the products were in FedEx’s warehouse, ready to be packed and shipped. This service puts FedEx into direct competition with Amazon.com, which offers a similar service to merchants that sell through the online Amazon Marketplace. But it also gives businesses that don’t sell via Amazon a fast and professional fulfillment alternative. FedEx is careful to let customers know, through media and social-media announcements, when it anticipates that extreme weather or other conditions will cause delays or force it to halt pickups and deliveries. For the duration of Hurricane Irma, for example, FedEx said it would suspend deliveries in Florida. Some Florida customers who had ordered generators to be delivered via FedEx were unhappy, because they worried about being without power during and after the storm. But one FedEx employee loaded several generator orders into his car and took them to customers himself. When a customer posted a grateful compliment to FedEx on Facebook, the message generated thousands of likes, shares, and positive comments. The company also received positive comments for its donations of cash and transportation services to areas devastated by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), FedEx often tops the list of U.S. shipping companies as ranked by customers surveyed. Every day, the company delivers 13 million packages—and during the busy year-end holiday season, it delivers many more. By meeting customers’ expectations for on-time deliveries, FedEx has increased annual revenues beyond $60 billion and positioned itself for continued growth in the future. How does FedEx’s money-back guarantee address customers’ concerns about heterogeneity?arrow_forwardAs an interested student, you have volunteered to study the operation of the Sunbucks during a typical weekday. You arrive at 8 am just as Sunbucks is opening, and you diligently record information over the next hour. According to the manager, Sunbucks should be able to serve an average of 1 customer every 2 minutes and during the period you were collecting data 25 customers arrived to make a purchase. Based on your data, What was the average waiting time for a customer in line during this period? a) 25 .16 b)3.67 c) 1.0 d)4.167arrow_forwardA new customer walks into SLC Barber Shop every 60 minutes on average, with a standard deviation of the interarrival times being 60 minutes. At SLC Barber Shop, the average service time is 30 minutes, with a standard deviation of service times being 45 minutes. What is the average number of customers in the barber shop including those that are waiting in line and those receiving service? What is the average number of customers in service?arrow_forward
- You observe an average of 10 customers in the System. On average, you also observe customers are in the system for 50 minutes before they leave. What is the arrival rate into the system in customers per hour?arrow_forwardA typical TSA agent at Piedmont Triad International Airport takes approximately 1.15 minutes to screeneach passenger that arrives at the security gate. During the day, a passenger arrives at the gate onaverage every 1.3 minutes. Both the service rate and arrival rate follow a Poisson distribution. Based onthis information and the assumption that only one screening line is open at the security gate, answer thefollowing questions. Round calculations to at least 3 decimal places.Note: Round each calculation to at least 3 decimal places. a) What is the average number of passengers waiting in line to be screened? b) What is the average amount of time (in minutes) passengers spend waiting in line? c) What is the average amount of time (in minutes) passengers spend in the screening system? d) What is percent of the time does the typical TSA agent spend actively screening passengers? e) Throughout the day, passenger arrival rates vary with the greatest number of passengers arriving about 45…arrow_forwardConsider a bank branch that has three distinct customer arrival patterns throughout the day, as measured by average arrival rates (below). Morning (8:30 - 11:30): arrival 1 = 47 per hour. %3D Lunch (11:30 - 1:30): arrival 2 = 70 per hour. Afternoon (1:30 - 4:00): arrival 3 = 30 per hour. Regardless of the time of day, the average time it takes for a teller to serve customers is 3.17 minutes. Because of competition with other banks in the area, management has developed an internal goal to keep the average customer wait before service to be less than 4 minutes. With that in mind, answer the following: a. During the morning period, what is the minimum number of tellers that the bank needs to hire to achieve the 4-minute service goal mentioned above? [ Select] b. During lunch, what is the minimum number of tellers that the bank needs to hire to achieve the 4 minute service goal mentioned above? [ Select ] c. In the afternoon, what is the minimum number of tellers that the bankarrow_forward
- The new accounts loan officer of the Millennium Commercial Bank interviews all customers for new accounts. The customers desiring to open new accounts arrive at the rate of 4 per hour, according to a Poisson distribution, and the accounts officer spends an average of 12 minutes with each customer, setting up a new account. Determine the operating characteristics (P0, L, Lq, W, Wq and Pw) for this system.arrow_forwardJoe’s market is a small grocery store with only one checkout counter. Assume that shoppers arrive at the checkout lane at an average rate of 15 customers per hour and that the average order takes 3 minutes to ring up and bag. If Joe does not want the average waiting time in the queue to exceed 5 minutes, what would you tell Joe about his current system? Back up your statement with quantitative information and assumptions.arrow_forwardThe prudential bank manager wants to improve its quality of service by reducing customer waiting times. To that end, a team of experts is needed to design what could be the best queuing strategy in order to have the minimum waiting time. Assuming your part of the team, what's the best queuing strategy to reduce the client's waiting time?arrow_forward
- Granos, Inc. purchased new automated coffee vending machines, the Preso 2000. This Preso 2000 requires a constant 45 seconds to produce a coffee. It has been estimated that customers will arrive at the vending machine according to a Poisson distribution at an average of one every 50 seconds. To help determine the amount of space needed for the line in front of the vending machine, Granos, Inc. would like to know the expected average time in the system, the average line length (in costumers), and the average number of costumers in the system (both in line and at the vending machine).arrow_forwardIn an M/M/1 queueing system, the arrival rate is 5 customers per hour and the service rate is 7 customers per hour. If the service process is automated (resulting in no variation in service times but the same service rate), what will be the resulting performance measurements? (Round all answers to three decimals.) What is the utilization? What is the expected number of customers in the system (L)? What is the expected waiting time (in hours) for the system (W)? What is the expected number of customers in the queue (Lq)?arrow_forwardWhich of the following cost estimates and the performance measures are used for economic analysis of a queuing system? Average waiting time of customers in the system Unit service rate is faster than arrival rate Average queue time in the system Average number of customers in the systemarrow_forward
- Practical Management ScienceOperations ManagementISBN:9781337406659Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.Publisher:Cengage,MarketingMarketingISBN:9780357033791Author:Pride, William MPublisher:South Western Educational Publishing