MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

BMA 3201 OPERATIONS RESEARCH

I YARROW MOHAMED

BBM/2021/73362

CAT 1
1. State four applications of operations research. (5Marks)
a) Supply Chain Management: Operations research techniques are extensively used in
optimizing supply chain operations. This includes inventory management, distribution
network design, transportation planning, demand forecasting, and production scheduling.
Operations research models help in maximizing efficiency, minimizing costs, and
improving overall supply chain performance.

b) Financial Management: Operations research is applied in financial management for

portfolio optimization, asset allocation, risk management, and investment planning.
Techniques like linear programming, stochastic modeling, and simulation aid in making
informed financial decisions, maximizing returns, and managing risks.

c) Healthcare Systems: Operations research plays a crucial role in healthcare systems by

optimizing resource allocation, patient scheduling, capacity planning, and healthcare
facility layout design. It helps in improving patient flow, reducing waiting times, and
enhancing the efficiency of healthcare delivery.

d) Transportation and Logistics: Operations research techniques are used in optimizing

transportation routes, vehicle routing, fleet management, and logistics network design.
 These models help in minimizing transportation costs, improving delivery schedules, and
optimizing resource utilization.

2. Differentiate between balanced and unbalanced transportation problem. (5 Marks)

Difference between Balanced and Unbalanced Transportation Problem:
Balanced Transportation Problem:

In a balanced transportation problem, the total supply (availability) is equal to the total
demand (requirement) across all sources and destinations.
The number of supply points is equal to the number of demand points.
The objective is to determine the optimal transportation plan that minimizes the total
transportation cost while satisfying supply and demand constraints.
The total supply and total demand are balanced in such a way that all the available supply
can be allocated to meet the demand.
Unbalanced Transportation Problem:

In an unbalanced transportation problem, the total supply is not equal to the total demand.
The number of supply points may not be equal to the number of demand points.
There may be excess supply or unsatisfied demand in the problem.
Unbalanced problems require additional considerations, such as adding a dummy source
or dummy destination to balance the supply and demand or allowing for the existence of
unutilized supply or unsatisfied demand.
The objective is still to minimize the total transportation cost, but the solution must
account for the unbalanced nature of the problem.

3. A booking counter takes 10 minutes to book a ticket for each customer arrive according
to poison process with a rate of 4 per hour. Find (4 marks)
i) Expected queue length

ii) Expected waiting time of a customer in the queue

iii) Expected time a customer spends in the system

iv) Expected number of customers in the system

4. A project schedule has the following characteristics as shown in the table below

Project Schedule
Activity           Name Time   Activity           Name Time (days)
1-2                  A         4         5-6                  G         4
1-3                  B         1          5-7                  H         8
2-4                  C         1          6-8                  I          1
3-4                  D         1          7-8                  J          2
3-5                  E         6          8-10                K         5
4-9                  F          5          9-10                L          7
Construct PERT network.                                                                                 (5 Marks)

5. Don Yale, president of HardRock Concrete Company, has plants in three locations and is
currently working on three major construction projects, located at different sites. The
shipping cost per truckload of concrete, plant capacities, and project requirements are
provided in the accompanying table.

TO           PROJECT PROJECT   PROJECT     PLANT

FROM                        A             B                 C                     CAPACITIES
PLANT 1                   $10         $4                $11                 70
PLANT 2                   $12         $5                $8                    50
PLANT 3                   $9             $7               $6                    30
PROJECT
REQUIREMENTS   40             50               60                    150
 References

Hillier, F. S. (1967). Introduction to operations research.

Bjørndal, T., Herrero, I., Newman, A., Romero, C., & Weintraub, A. (2012). Operations
research in the natural resource industry. International Transactions in
Operational Research, 19(1-2), 39-62.