Exam 1: Introduction

In order to undertake problem solving,the first step must be

Frederic W.Taylor is credited with providing the foundation for quantitative methodology in the early part of the 20th century.

Zipco Printing operates a shop that has five printing machines.The machines differ in their capacities to perform various printing operations due to differences in the machines' designs and operator skill levels.At the start of the workday there are five printing jobs to schedule.The manager must decide what the job-machine assignments should be. a.How could a quantitative approach to decision making be used to solve this problem? b.What would be the uncontrollable inputs for which data must be collected? c.Define the decision variables,objective function,and constraints to appear in the mathematical model. d.Is the model deterministic or stochastic? e.Suggest some simplifying assumptions for this problem.

The first step in the decision-making process is to identify the problem.

The quantitative analysis approach requires

If you are deciding to buy either machine A,B,or C with the objective of minimizing the sum of labor,material and utility costs,you are dealing with a single-criterion decision.

Model development should be left to quantitative analysts; the model user's involvement should begin at the implementation stage.

A university schedules summer school courses based on anticipated enrollment.The cost for faculty compensation,laboratories,student services,and allocated overhead for a computer class is $8500.If students pay $920 to enroll in the course,how large would enrollment have to be for the university to break even?

Uncontrollable inputs are the decision variables for a model.

As part of their application for a loan to buy Lakeside Farm,a property they hope to develop as a bed-and-breakfast operation,the prospective owners have projected: ​ a.Write the expression for total cost per month.Assume 30 days per month. b.Write the expression for total revenue per month. c.​ If there are 12 guest rooms available,can they break even? What percentage of rooms would need to be occupied,on average,to break even? ​

George Dantzig is important in the history of management science because he developed

Jane Persico,facility engineer at the El Paso plant of Computer Products Corporation (CPC),is studying a process selection decision at the plant.A new printer is to be manufactured and she must decide whether the printer will be auto-assembled or manually assembled.The decision is complicated by the fact that annual production volume is expected to increase by almost 50% over three years.Jane has developed these estimates for two alternatives for the printer assembly process: ​ ​ a.Which production process would be the least-cost alternative in Years 1,2,and 3? b.​ How much would the variable cost per unit have to be in Year 2 for the auto-assembly process to justify the additional annual fixed cost for the auto-assembly process over the manual assembly process? ​

The process of problem definition must

In a multicriteria decision problem

A manufacturer makes two products,doors and windows.Each must be processed through two work areas.Work area #1 has 60 hours of available production time per week.Work area #2 has 48 hours of available production time per week.Manufacturing of a door requires 4 hours in work area #1 and 2 hours in work area #2.Manufacturing of a window requires 2 hours in work area #1 and 4 hours in work area #2.Profit is $8 per door and $6 per window. a.​ Define decision variables that will tell how many units to build (doors and windows)per week. b.Develop an objective function that will maximize total profit per week. c.Develop production constraints for work area #1 and #2.

Organizers of an Internet training session will charge participants $150 to attend.It costs $3000 to reserve the room,hire the instructor,bring in the equipment,and advertise.Assume it costs $25 per student for the organizers to provide the course materials. a.How many students would have to attend for the company to break even? b.If the trainers think,realistically,that 20 people will attend,then what price should be charged per person for the organization to break even?

All uncontrollable inputs or data must be specified before we can analyze the model and recommend a decision or solution for the problem.

By identifying and defining a problem,we have

The most critical component in determining the success or failure of any quantitative approach to decision making is problem definition.

To establish a driver education school,organizers must decide how many cars,instructors,and students to have.Costs are estimated as follows.Annual fixed costs to operate the school are $30,000.The annual cost per car is $3000.The annual cost per instructor is $11,000 and one instructor is needed for each car.Tuition for each student is $350.Let x be the number of cars and y be the number of students. a.Write an expression for total cost. b.Write an expression for total revenue. c.Write an expression for total profit. d.​ ​ The school offers the course eight times each year.Each time the course is offered,there are two sessions.If they decide to operate five cars,and if four students can be assigned to each car,will they break even?