Operational Efficiency Improvement: Waiting Line Models and Service Technicians

Include a discussion of the following issues in your report:

1. What is the arrival rate for each customer?
2. What is the service rate in terms of the number of customers per hour? (Remember that the average travel time of 1 hour is counted as service time because the time that the service technician is busy handling a service call includes the travel time in addition to the time required to complete the repair.)
3. Waiting line models generally assume that the arriving customers are in the same location as the service facility. Consider how OEI is different in this regard, given that a service technician travels an average of 1 hour to reach each customer. How should the travel time and the waiting time predicted by the waiting line model be combined to determine the total customer waiting time? Explain.
4. OEI is satisfied that one service technician can handle the 10 existing customers. Use a waiting line model to determine the following information: (a) probability that no customers are in the system, (b) average number of customers in the waiting line, (c) average number of customers in the system, (d) average time a customer waits until the service technician arrives, (e) average time a customer waits until the machine is back in operation, (f) probability that a customer will have to wait more than one hour for the service technician to arrive, and (g) the total cost per hour for the service operation.
5. Do you agree with OEI management that one technician can meet the average 3-hour service call guarantee? Why or why not?
6. What is your recommendation for the number of service technicians to hire when OEI expands to 20 customers? Use the information that you developed in Question 4 (above) to justify your answer.
7. What is your recommendation for the number of service technicians to hire when OEI expands to 30 customers? Use the information that you developed in Question 4 (above) to justify your answer.
8. What are the annual savings of your recommendation in Question 6 (above) compared to the planning committee's proposal that 30 customers will require three service technicians? (Assume 250 days of operation per year.) How was this determination reached? BUS-660