Case Problem:

Submitted By

ID No- 615-31-24-020
ID No- 615-31-24-049

The College of Business Copy Center:

The copy center in the College of Business at State University has become an increasingly
contentious item among the college administrators. The department heads have complained to
the associate dean about the long lines and waiting times for their secretaries at the copy
center. They claim that it is a waste of scarce resources for the secretaries to wait in line
talking when they could be doing more productive work in the office. Hanford Burris, the
associate dean, says the limited operating budget will not allow the college to purchase a new
copier or copiers to relieve the problem. This standoff has been going on for several years.

To make her case for improved copying facilities, Lauren Moore, a teacher in Operations
Management, assigned students in her class to gather some information about the copy center
as a class project. The students were to record the arrivals at the center and the length of time
it took to do a copy job once the secretary actually reached a copy machine. In addition, the
students were to describe how the copy center system worked.

When the students completed the project, they turned in a report to Professor Moore. The
report described the copy center as containing two machines. When secretaries arrive for a
copy job, they join a queue, which looked more like milling around to the students, but they
acknowledged that each secretary knew when it was his or her turn, and, in effect, the
secretaries formed a single queue for the first available copy machine. Also, since copy jobs
are assigned tasks, secretaries always stayed to do the job no matter how long the line was or
how long they had to wait. They never left the queue.

From the data the students gathered, Professor Moore was able to determine that secretaries
arrived every 8 minutes for a copy job and that the arrival rate was Poisson distributed.
Further, she was able to determine that the average time it takes to complete a job was 12
minutes, and this is exponentially distributed.

Using her department's personnel records and data from the university personnel office, Dr.
Moore determined that a secretary's average salary is $8.50 per hour. From her academic
calendar she added up the actual days in the year when the college and departmental offices
were open and found there were 247. However, as she added up working days, it occurred to
her that during the summer months the workload is much less, and the copy center would
probably get less traffic. The summer included about 70 days, during which she expected the
copy center traffic would be about half of what it is during the normal year, but she
speculated that the average time of a copying job would remain about the same.

Professor Moore next called a local office supply firm to check the prices on copiers. A new
copier of the type in the copy center now would cost $36,000. It would also require $8,000
per year for maintenance and would have a normal useful life of 6 years.

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Do you think Dr. Moore will be able to convince the associate dean that a new copy machine
will be cost-effective?

Solution:

The case study based on multiple server line model. Now we try to solve that will be the new
system become cost effective.

As per current system: (When there are 2 Copier)

In Regular Time,

Arrival rate, 𝜆 = 7.5 jobs per hour.

Service rate, 𝜇 = 5 jobs per hour.
The number of copiers, c = 2

Now, We Know,
1
𝑃0 =
1 𝜆 𝑛 1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
[∑𝑛=𝑐−1
𝑛=0 𝑛! (𝜇 ) ] + 𝑐! (𝜇 ) (𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆 )

1
= 0
1 7.5 1 7.5 1 7.5 2𝑥5
[0! ( ) + 1! ( )1 ] + 2! ( )2 ( )
5 5 5 (2𝑥5) − 7.5

= 0.143

1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
𝑃𝑤 = ( ) ( ) . 𝑃0
𝑐! 𝜇 𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆

1 7.5 2 2𝑥5
= ( ) (
2! 5 (2𝑥5)−7.5
) 𝑥 0.143

= 0.643

𝑐
𝜆𝜇((𝜇𝜆)
L= 2 . 𝑃0 + 𝜇𝜆
(𝑐−1)!(𝑐𝜇−𝜆)

7.5 2
7.5𝑥5𝑥(( ) 7.5
5
=
(2−1)!𝑥((2𝑥5)−7.5)2
. 𝑥0.143 +
5

= 3.43

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 𝜆
𝐿𝑞 = 𝐿 −
𝜇
7.5
= 3.43-
5

= 1.93
𝐿
𝑊=
𝜆
3.43
=
7.5

= 27.43 Min
1
𝑊𝑞 = 𝑊 −
𝜇
3.43 1
= −
7.5 5

= 15.43 Min

Now,
Daily Jobs= 60
𝑊 𝑥 𝐷𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑏𝑠 27.43 𝑥 60
Time Spent on copying = = = 27.43 Hours
60 60
Secretarial Wages for copying = $8.50 x 27.43= $233.16
Annual Wages (177 Regular Days) = 177x 233.16 = $41269.32

In Summer Time (On Current System)

In Regular Time,

Arrival rate, 𝜆 = 3.75 jobs per hour.

Service rate, 𝜇 = 5 jobs per hour.
The number of copiers, c = 2

Now, We Know,
1
𝑃0 =
1 𝜆 𝑛 1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
[∑𝑛=𝑐−1
𝑛=0 𝑛! (𝜇 ) ] + 𝑐! (𝜇 ) (𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆 )

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 1
= 0
1 3.75 1 3.75 1 1 3.75 2 2𝑥5
[0! ( ) + 1! ( ) ] + 2! ( ) ( )
5 5 5 (2𝑥5) − 3.75

= 0.455

1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
𝑃𝑤 = ( ) ( ) . 𝑃0
𝑐! 𝜇 𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆

1 3.75 2 2𝑥5
= (
2! 5
) ((2𝑥5)−3.75) 𝑥 0.455

= 0.205

𝑐
𝜆𝜇((𝜇𝜆)
L= 2 . 𝑃0 + 𝜇𝜆
(𝑐−1)!(𝑐𝜇−𝜆)

3.75 2
3.75𝑥5𝑥(( ) 3.75
5
=
(2−1)!𝑥((2𝑥5)−3.75)2
. 𝑥0.455 +
5

= 0.87

𝜆
𝐿𝑞 = 𝐿 −
𝜇
3.75
= 0.87-
5

= 0.123
𝐿
𝑊=
𝜆
0.87
=
3.75

= 13.96 Min
1
𝑊𝑞 = 𝑊 −
𝜇
0.87 1
= −
3.75 5

= 1.96 Min

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Now,
Daily Jobs= 30
𝑊 𝑥 𝐷𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑏𝑠 13.96 𝑥 30
Time Spent on copying = = = 6.98 Hours
60 60
Secretarial Wages for copying = $8.50 x 6.98= $59.33
Annual Wages (70 Summer Days) = 70x 59.33 = $4153.1

As per New system: (When there 3 Copier)

In Regular Time,

Arrival rate, 𝜆 = 7.5 jobs per hour.

Service rate, 𝜇 = 5 jobs per hour.
The number of copiers, c = 3

Now, We Know,
1
𝑃0 =
1 𝜆 𝑛 1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
[∑𝑛=𝑐−1
𝑛=0 𝑛! (𝜇 ) ] + 𝑐! (𝜇 ) (𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆 )

1
= 0 1
1 7.5 1 7.5 1 7.5 2 1 7.5 3𝑥5
[0! ( ) + 1! ( ) + 2! ( ) ] + 3! ( )3 ( )
5 5 5 5 (3𝑥5) − 7.5

= 0.211

1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
𝑃𝑤 = ( ) ( ) . 𝑃0
𝑐! 𝜇 𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆

1 7.5 3 3𝑥5
= ( ) (
3! 5 (3𝑥5)−7.5
) 𝑥 0.211

= 0.237

𝑐
𝜆𝜇((𝜇𝜆)
L= 2 . 𝑃0 + 𝜇𝜆
(𝑐−1)!(𝑐𝜇−𝜆)

7.5 3
7.5𝑥5𝑥(( ) 7.5
5
=
(3−1)!𝑥((3𝑥5)−7.5)2
. 𝑥0.211 +
5

= 1.74

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 𝜆
𝐿𝑞 = 𝐿 −
𝜇
7.5
= 1.74-
5

= 0.24
𝐿
𝑊=
𝜆
1.74
=
7.5

= 13.89 Min
1
𝑊𝑞 = 𝑊 −
𝜇
1.74 1
= −
7.5 5

= 1.89 Min

Now,
Daily Jobs= 60
𝑊 𝑥 𝐷𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑏𝑠 13.89 𝑥 60
Time Spent on copying = = = 13.89 Hours
60 60
Secretarial Wages for copying = $8.50 x 13.89= $118.11
Annual Wages (177 Regular Days) = 177x 233.16 = $20904.6

In Summer Time (On New System)

In Regular Time,

Arrival rate, 𝜆 = 3.75 jobs per hour.

Service rate, 𝜇 = 5 jobs per hour.
The number of copiers, c = 3

Now, We Know,
1
𝑃0 =
1 𝜆 𝑛 1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
[∑𝑛=𝑐−1
𝑛=0 𝑛! (𝜇 ) ] + 𝑐! (𝜇 ) (𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆 )

Page | 6
 1
= 0 1
1 3.75 1 3.75 1 7.5 2 1 3.75 3 3𝑥5
[0! ( ) + 1! ( ) + 2! ( ) ] + 3! ( ) ( )
5 5 5 5 (3𝑥5) − 3.75

= 0.471

1 𝜆 𝑐 𝑐𝜇
𝑃𝑤 = ( ) ( ) . 𝑃0
𝑐! 𝜇 𝑐𝜇 − 𝜆

1 3.75 3 3𝑥5
= (
3! 5
) ((3𝑥5)−3.75) 𝑥 0.471

= 0.044

𝑐
𝜆𝜇((𝜇𝜆)
L= 2 . 𝑃0 + 𝜇𝜆
(𝑐−1)!(𝑐𝜇−𝜆)

3.75 3
3.75𝑥5𝑥(( ) 3.75
5
=
(3−1)!𝑥((2𝑥5)−3.75)2
. 𝑥0.471 +
5

= 0.76

𝜆
𝐿𝑞 = 𝐿 −
𝜇
3.75
= 0.76 -
5

= 0.01
𝐿
𝑊=
𝜆
0.76
=
3.75

= 12.24 Min
1
𝑊𝑞 = 𝑊 −
𝜇
0.76 1
= −
3.75 5

= 0.24 Min

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Now,
Daily Jobs= 30
𝑊 𝑥 𝐷𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑏𝑠 12.24 𝑥 30
Time Spent on copying = = = 6.12 Hours
60 60
Secretarial Wages for copying = $8.50 x 6.12= $52.00
Annual Wages (70 Summer Days) = 70x 52.00 = $3640

Now in Current System Cost Will be= $41269.32+$4153.1 =$45422.42 Per Year
And in New Sytem Cost Will be = $20904.6 + $3640 = $24544.6 Per Year
So Yearly Saving= =$45422.42 - $24544.6 =$20877.82

So In 6 years saving will be= $20877.82* 6== $125266.92

Cost of New Copier= $84000
So Saving if We implement 3 copier instead of 2 copier= $125266.92- $84000 = $41266.92

This is How Dr. Moore can show that the New system will be Cost effective.

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