The Robotics Manufacturing Company operates an equipment repair
business where emergency jobs arrive randomly at the rate of three
jobs per 8-hour day. The company's repair facility is a
single-server system operated by a repair technician. The service
time varies, with a mean repair time of 2 hours and a standard
deviation of 1.5 hours. The company's cost of the repair operation
is $28 per hour. In the economic analysis of the waiting line
system, Robotics uses $35 per hour cost for customers waiting
during the repair process.
- What are the arrival rate and service rate in jobs per
hour?
Round your answers to three decimal places.
Arrival rate = jobs per hour
Service rate = jobs per hour
- Show the operating characteristics, including the total cost
per hour.
Round your answers to four decimal places.
Lq =
L =
Round your answer to the nearest cent.
TC = $
- The company is considering purchasing a computer-based
equipment repair system that would enable a constant repair time of
2 hours. For practical purposes, the standard deviation is 0.
Because of the computer-based system, the company's cost of the new
operation would be $32 per hour. What effect will the new system
have on the waiting line characteristics of the repair service?
Round total cost to the nearest cent and other answers to four
decimal places.
|
Current System (σ = 1.5) |
New System (σ = 0) |
Lq |
|
|
L |
|
|
Wq |
|
|
W |
|
|
TC |
$ |
$ |
The firm's director of operations rejected the request for the new
system because the hourly cost is $4 higher and the mean repair
time is the same. Do you agree?
No
- Does paying for the computer-based system to reduce the
variation in service time make economic sense?
Yes
How much will the new system save the company during a 40-hour
workweek? Round your answer to the nearest cent.
Savings = $