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Essay about operation management HW1

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1. A manufacturer's average work-in-process inventory for a certain part is 1,000 units. The workstation produces this part at the rate of 200 units per day. What is the average time a unit spends at this workstation?

2. The Wilcox Student Health Center has just implemented a new computer system and service process to \improve e±ciency." As pharmacy manager, you are con- cerned about waiting time and its potential impact on college students who \get no respect." All prescriptions (Rxs) go through the following process:
Drop-o® ! Fill Rx ! Pick-up ! Cashier
Assume that students arrive to drop-o® Rxs at a steady rate of 2 Rxs per minute, with an average of one Rx per student. The average number of students in process
(those who …show more content…

All data conform to planners' expectations except for one set { the classi¯cations made by the nurse practitioner. Assume that the triage nurse has been sending 91% of all patients to the Simple Prescriptions area when in fact only 90% should have been so classi¯ed. The remaining 1% are discovered when transferred to the emergency area by a doctor. Assume all other information from Problem 6 is valid. On average, how long does a patient stay in the ER? On average, how long does a Potential Admit stay in the ER? On average, how many patients are in the ER?
Answer to Q1:
We know that throughput R=200 units/day, and inventory I=1,000 units.
Thus, flow time T=I/R=1000/200=5 days. So the average time a unit spends at this workstation is 5 days.

Answer to Q2:
a)
R=2/min

R
I
T
Drop off
2/min
5
2.5 min
Fill Rx
2/min
40
20 min
Pick up
2/min
3
1.5 min
Cashier
2/min
6
3 min

b) Based on the chart above, we could calculate:
T(stay to pick up)= 2.5+20+1.5+3=27 minutes
So the average time in the pharmacy for those students who stay to pick-up their Rxs is 27 minutes.

c) For the students back to pick up in 3 hours:
T (back in 3 hours)=2.5+1.5+3=7 minutes

So the average time in the pharmacy for those students who pick-up 3 hours later is 7 minutes.

d) Average T= 0.05*27+0.95*7=8 minutes

So the average time that a student spends in the pharmacy is 8 minutes.

Answer to Q3:

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