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: Processes and Supply Chains (12th Edition) (What's New in Operations Management)
- 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_forwardGiven the following Operating Characteristics from a queuing model with time units specified in hours, answer the five questions: Po = 0.4000 Lq = 0.9000 L = 1.5000 Wq = 0.2000 W = 0.3000 Pw = 0.6000 What is the average time, in minutes, a customer waits in line before being served? What is the average time, in minutes, a customer spends waiting and being served? What is the average number of customers in the system? What is the probability that there are no customers in the system? If the system serves a customer every 4 minutes, what is the service rate?arrow_forwardYou are the manager of a local bank where three tellers provide services to customers. On average, each teller takes four minutes to serve a customer. Customers arrive, on average, at a rate of 40 per hour. Having recently received complaints from some customers that they waited a long time before being served, your boss asks you to evaluate the service system. Specifically, you must provide answers to the following questions: a. The average utilization of the three-teller service system is p= 0.8889. (Enter your response rounded to four decimal places.) b. The probability that no customers are being served by a teller or are waiting in line is Po= 0.0280. (Enter your response rounded to four decimal places.) c. The average number of customers waiting in line is L₁ = customers. (Enter your response rounded to one decimal place.)arrow_forward
- As 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_forwardYou 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_forward
- A 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_forwardThe 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_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
- Joe’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_forwardYou are the manager of a local bank where three tellers pro-vide services to customers. On average, each teller takes 3minutes to serve a customer. Customers arrive, on average,at a rate of 50 per hour. Having recently received complaintsfrom some customers that they waited a long time beforebeing served, your boss asks you to evaluate the service sys-tem. Specifically, you must provide answers to the followingquestions:a. What is the average utilization of the three-teller servicesystem?b. What is the probability that no customers are being servedby a teller or are waiting in line?c. What is the average number of customers waiting in line?d. On average, how long does a customer wait in line beforebeing served?e. On average, how many customers would be at a teller’sstation and in line?arrow_forward
- Practical Management ScienceOperations ManagementISBN:9781337406659Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.Publisher:Cengage,MarketingMarketingISBN:9780357033791Author:Pride, William MPublisher:South Western Educational Publishing