Waiting in lines is a part of our everyday life. Waiting in lines may be due to overcrowded, overfilling or due to congestion. Any time there is more customer demand for a service than can be provided, a waiting line forms. We wait in lines at the movie theater, at the bank for a teller, at a grocery store. Wait time is depends on the number of people waiting before you, the number of servers serving line, and the amount of service time for each individual customer. Customers can be either humans or an object such as customer orders to be process, a machine waiting for repair. Mathematical analytical method of analyzing the relationship between congestion and delay caused by Continue reading
Management Science
Modeling Techniques in Management Science
Management science is the science for managing and involves decision making. It utilizes what is controllable, and tries to predict what is uncontrollable in order to archive a specific objective. Science is a continuous search; it is a continuing generation of theories, models, concepts, and categories. Management science uses analytical methods to solve problems in areas such as production and operations, inventory management, and scheduling. Typical management science approach is to build a model for the problem being studied, such a model is often a mathematical model. Practical problems are often unstructured and lack clarification in definition of problem which makes mathematical modeling a challenge. Therefore modeling of a problem is important phase in problem solving technique. Once model is Continue reading
Transportation and Assignment Models in Operations Research
Transportation and assignment models are special purpose algorithms of the linear programming. The simplex method of Linear Programming Problems(LPP) proves to be inefficient is certain situations like determining optimum assignment of jobs to persons, supply of materials from several supply points to several destinations and the like. More effective solution models have been evolved and these are called assignment and transportation models. The transportation model is concerned with selecting the routes between supply and demand points in order to minimize costs of transportation subject to constraints of supply at any supply point and demand at any demand point. Assume a company has 4 manufacturing plants with different capacity levels, and 5 regional distribution centres. 4 Continue reading
Construction of Mathematical Decision Model
Mathematical model is an idealized representation expressed in mathematical symbols and expressions. A mathematical model of a business problem might be in the form of a set of equations and related mathematical expressions that describe the essence of the problem. An economic order quantity model is given by: EOQ = ˆš2AO/C where A — annual requirement, O — ordering cost and C — carrying cost. A linear programming model is given by objective function: Say Maximize Z = 10a + 12b, subject to 2a + b < = 60, 3a + 4b < = 120, a, b > = 0, where a and are units of products A and B, respectively to be produced to maximize total Continue reading
Introduction to Decision Models
A decision model is an idealized representation of the problem. Decision model refers to structured presentation of the problem, solution there to and stimulation of working of the solution. The model’s purpose is to enable the decision analyst to forecast the effect of factors crucial to the solution of the problem. Types of Models There are different types of models. Ionic and Symbolic models are the prime two types. Ionic Models are concretized. It is a physical representation of any real life object on a different scale. Think of a prototype of a plane/car/machine/globe/idol and so on. Symbolic models re abstract models. A cost curve, a supply curve, marginal revenue curve, a production possibility curve, Continue reading
Model of Quantitative Analysis
Quantitative analysis is a scientific approach to decision making. As a first step to decision making, decision model has to be evolved. The decision model depends on two factors, namely the problem and the problem environment. Defining the Problem The first step in decisions making is defining the problem. The problem (i.e. the threat, opportunity, etc.) must be fully understood as to its nature, dimensions, intensity and so on. Take labor absenteeism. It becomes a problem when it is rampant affecting work schedules. (one or two absentees, here and there is no problem). What is its nature? Deliberate absenteeism, absenteeism due to unavoidable causes, absenteeism as a mark of protest to certain managements Continue reading