Kingfisher School of Business and Finance

BUSMATH 42: Management Science I

Performance Task 3: Distribution and Network Models
Revision 1 Series of 2024

I. Problem Solving. Solve the following problems

1. Bechtold Construction is in the process of installing power lines to a large housing development. Steve Bechtold wants
to minimize the total length of wire used, which will minimize his costs. The housing development is shown as a network
in Figure 11.21. Each house has been numbered, and the distances between houses are given in hundreds of feet. What do
you recommend?

2. The road system around the hotel complex on International Drive (node 1) to Disney World (node 11) in Orlando,
Florida, is shown in the network of Figure 11.27. The numbers by the nodes represent the traffic flow in hundreds of cars
per hour. What is the maximum flow of cars from the hotel complex to Disney World?

3. The network of Figure shows the highways and cities surrounding Leadville, Colorado. Leadville Tom, a bicycle helmet
manufacturer, must transport his helmets to a distributor based in Dillon, Colorado. To do this, he must go through several
cities. Tom would like to find the shortest way to get from Leadville to Dillon. What do you recommend?
4. 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.
PROJECT A PROJECT B PROJECT C CAPACITY
PLANT 1 10 4 11 150
PLANT 2 12 5 8 30
PLANT 3 9 7 6 50
REQUIREMENTS 40 50 60 70

5. The management of the Executive Furniture Corporation decided to expand the production capacity at its Des Moines
factory and to cut back production at its other factories. It also recognizes a shifting market for its desks and revises the
requirements at its three warehouses.
NEW WAREHOUSE REQUIREMENT NEW FACTORY CAPACITIES
Albuquerque (A) 200 desks Des Moines (D) 300 desks
Boston (B) 200 desks Evansville (E) 150 desks
Cleveland (C) 300 desks Fort Lauderdale (F) 250 desks

Albuquerque Boston Cleveland

Des Moines 5 4 3
Evansville 8 4 3
Fort Lauderdale 9 7 5

6. Scott and Associates, Inc., is an accounting firm that has three new clients. Project leaders will be assigned to the three
clients. Based on the different backgrounds and experiences of the leaders, the various leader—client assignments differ in
terms of projected completion times. The possible assignments and the estimated completion times in days are as follows:
CLIENT
Project Leader 1 2 3
Jackson 10 16 32
Ellis 14 22 40
Smith 22 24 34

7. The quantitative methods department head at a major midwestern university will be scheduling faculty to teach courses
during the coming autumn term. Four core courses need to be covered. The four courses are at the UG, MBA, MS, and
Ph.D. levels. Four professors will be assigned to the courses, with each professor receiving one of the courses. Student
evaluations of professors are available from previous terms. Based on a rating scale of 4 (excellent), 3 (very good), 2
(average), 1 (fair), and 0 (poor), the average student evaluations for each professor are shown. Professor D does not have a
Ph.D. and cannot be assigned to teach the Ph.D.-level course. If the department head makes teaching assignments based
on maximizing the student evaluation ratings over all four courses, what staffing assignments should be made?
COURSE
Professor UG MBA MS Ph.D.
A 2.8 2.2 3.3 3.0
B 3.2 3.0 3.6 3.6
C 3.3 3.2 3.5 3.5
D 3.2 2.8 2.5 -