MASENO UNIVERSITY EXAMS 2023/20242

BMS 401: Q. M II CAT Time: 1 HR

Instructions: Attempt ALL Questions

1. At a man barber shop, customers arrive according to Poisson distribution with a mean arrival
rate of 5 per hour and his hair cutting time was exponentially distributed with an average
hair cut taking 10 minutes. It is assumed that because of his expertise customers were always
willing to wait. Find

(a) Average number of customers in the shop and the average number of customers waiting
for a hair cut. [2 marks]
(b) The percent of time an arrival can walk right in without having to wait. [1 mark]
(c) The average time a customer spends in the shop. [2 marks]
(d) Find the optimal solution to the following TP by using North West Corner rule to make
the initial allocation.
Warehouses
W1 W2 W3 W4 Capacity
F1 19 30 50 10 7
Factories
F2 70 30 40 60 9
F3 40 8 70 20 18
Demand 5 6 7 14
[8 marks]
(e) A local road transport company is considering investing in specialized lorries for the
carriage of chilled and frozen foods. Type A carries 10m3 of chilled food and 15m3 of
frozen food, while type B can carry 15m3 of chilled food and 12m3 of frozen food. They
have a minimum weekly load of 1000m3 of chilled food and 1200m3 of frozen food. In
addition, the supplier of the lorries has stipulated that at least 40 type A and 15 type
B must be ordered at a time. Given that it costs ksh 17,000 for a type A lorry and ksh
15,000 for type B:
i. Formulate this situation as a linear program with the objective to minimize costs.
Clearly identify the variables in the problem. [2 marks]
ii. Advise the company on the best strategy to minimize costs whilst still meeting the
constraints identified. [3 marks]
(f) Find the optimal assignment to the following AP
Machine
A B C D E
1 11 17 8 16 20
2 9 7 12 6 15
Jobs
3 13 16 15 12 16
4 21 24 17 28 26
5 14 10 12 11 15
[5 marks]