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    Operations Research Exam

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    Operations Research Exam

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    Operations Research Exam

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    12 views6 pages

    Or 2018

    Uploaded by

    Victor Hove
    Operations Research Exam

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 6

    NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

    FACULTY OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

    DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

    B-ENG HONS INDUSTRIAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

    OPERATIONS RESEARCH

    TIE 5208

    Main Examination Paper

    May/June 2018

    This examination paper consists of 6 pages

    Time Allowed: 3 hours

    Total Marks: 100

    Special Requirements: Nil

    Examiner’s Name: Eng B. Sarema

    INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION TO CANDIDATE

    1. Answer any five (5) questions


    2. Each question carries 20 marks
    3. There are seven (7) questions
    4. Use of calculators is permissible

    Copyright: National University of Science and Technology, 2018

    TIE 5208 ©NUST, 2018


    Page 1 of 6
    QUESTION 1

    (a) Define Operations Research as a field of study. [3]


    (b) Outline the evolution of Operations Research techniques. [7]
    (c) Using relevant examples, explain the importance of Operations Research to Industrial and
    Manufacturing Engineering practitioners. [10]

    QUESTION 2

    (a) What is modelling? [3]


    (b) Distinguish between Stochastic and Deterministic models. [3]
    (c) Explain the characteristics of a good model. [4]
    (d) Intratrek Solar Company is investigating the feasibility of a solar photovoltaic plant in
    Gwanda. The company has two options, either to construct a 2 MW or a 1 MW plant. The
    solar radiation in Gwanda can however be favourable or unfavourable. The company has
    also an option of not installing a plant at all. With a favourable solar radiation, the 2 MW
    plant would yield a net profit of $200,000. If the solar radiation is unfavourable, a
    $180,000 net loss would occur. A 100 kW would result in a net profit of $100,000 in a
    favourable weather, but a net loss of $20,000 would be encountered if the weather was
    unfavourable.
    (i) Construct a decision table to assist Intratrek management to make decisions. [2]
    (ii) Calculate the Expected Monetary Value for each option, given that each state of
    nature has a 50 % chance of occurrence. [6]
    (iii) Represent the alternatives in a decision tree and give a recommendation to
    Intratrek management. [2]

    QUESTION 3

    (a) Describe the Operations Research methodology. [10]


    (b) Capri Zimbabwe produces two types of refrigerators, chillers and freezers. There are two
    production lines, one dedicated to producing chillers, the other to producing freezers. The
    capacity of the production line for chillers is 60 units per day, the capacity of the
    production line for freezers is 50 units per day. Chillers requires 20 minutes of labour
    whereas freezers requires 40 minutes of labour. Presently, there is a maximum of 40
    hours of labour per day which can be assigned to either production line. Profit

    TIE 5208 ©NUST, 2018


    Page 2 of 6
    contributions are $20 per chiller produced and $30 per freezer produced. Determine the
    daily production target for the company [10]

    QUESTION 4
    (a) An A2 farmer has accessed a loan of $10 000 under the Command Agriculture scheme.
    Using the loan the farmer plans to grow three crops from 50 acres of land. Given that it
    costs $200 to produce an acre of carrots and the profit is $60 per acre. It costs $80 to
    produce an acre of celery and the profit is $20 per acre. Finally, it costs $140 to produce
    an acre of lettuce and the profit is $30 per acre. Use the simplex method to find the
    number of acres of each crop in order to maximize profit. [10]

    (b) African Sun Hotels and Resorts Group is planning to perform concurrent preventive
    maintenance on elevators at its four hotels in Zimbabwe. The Maintenance Engineer has
    received some quotations from four suppliers as summarised in Table Q4.

    Table Q4: Maintenance costs for servicing elevators


    Holiday Inn Elephant Hills Holiday Inn Troutbeck Inn
    Harare Victoria Falls Bulawayo Nyanga
    Zimbabwe USD 10 000 USD 7 000 USD 6 000 USD 11 000
    Elevator
    Company
    Eleco Elevator USD 6 000 USD 4 000 USD 7 000 USD 9 000
    Company
    Otis Elevator USD 8 000 USD 6 000 USD 5 000 USD 6 000
    Company
    Schoto Elevator USD 9 000 USD 5 000 USD 3 000 USD 12 000
    Company

    Use the assignment method to help the Maintenance Engineer minimize the overall
    maintenance bill. [10]

    QUESTION 5

    National Foods (Pvt) Limited operates three depots and four mills across the country. The
    cost in $/tonne of moving grain from depot to mills as well as the supply and demand
    quantities are shown in Table Q5. Determine the most cost effective combination of
    transporting the grain. [20]

    TIE 5208 ©NUST, 2018


    Page 3 of 6
    Table Q5: Cost of gain transportation against supply and demand

    Supply Mill 1 Mill 2 Mill 3 Mill 4

    Demand 5 15 15 15

    Depot 1 15 10 2 20 11

    Depot 2 25 12 7 9 20

    Depot 3 10 4 14 16 18

    QUESTION 6

    As the Project Manager of a company doing solar streetlights installation in the city, you are
    presented with the results of a work-study analysis performed for the solar streetlights
    installation activities shown in Table Q6. The analysis is based on an 8 hour working day and
    7 day working week.

    Table Q6: Solar streetlights installation activities


    Activity Duration (days) Preceding Activities
    Survey for Services (A) 1 -
    Marking out (B) 1 A
    Excavation (C) 1 B
    Reinforcement cages preparation (D) 1.33 -
    Concreting of bases (E) 2 C, D
    Drying and semi curing of bases (F) 2 E
    Concreting of plinths (G) 2 F
    Curing of concrete (H) 7 G
    pole sub-assembling (I) 0.4 -
    Solar frame sub-assembly (J) 0.33 -
    Transport to site (K) 0.19 I, J
    complete street light pole assembly with mounting K
    0.125
    and setting of controller (L)
    Erection of pole (M) 1.042 L, H
    Drilling of aeration holes on battery boxes (N) 0.142 -
    Transport of battery boxes and batteries to site and 0.083 N

    TIE 5208 ©NUST, 2018


    Page 4 of 6
    placement (O)
    Connection of battery cables (P) 0.125 O, M
    Burying of Battery (Q) 0.125 P
    Switching on (R) 0.125 Q
    Compaction and concreting (S) 1 R
    Curing of concrete (T) 7 S

    (a) Construct a network to represent the inter-relationships between the activities indicated,
    and insert earliest and latest event times throughout. [10]
    (b) Determine the critical path and the shortest possible duration of the project. [5]
    (c) Represent the activities in a Gantt chart. You may make use of Appendix A. [5]

    QUESTION 7

    (a) Discuss the major costs associated with inventory. [8]


    (b) The forecast annual demand for a particular product sold by a retail store is 600 units; the
    cost is $60 per unit. The cost of ordering and receiving delivery is $15 on each occasion.
    Stockholding costs are 20% per annum of stock value.
    (i) Derive the basic economic batch quantity (EBQ) formula defining any symbols used
    and stating clearly the assumptions you have made. [5]
    (ii) Calculate the optimum order quantity if there is to be instantaneous delivery of an
    order. [7]

    End of Examination

    TIE 5208 ©NUST, 2018


    Page 5 of 6
    APPENDIX A: Gantt chart for solar streetlights installation

    PROJECT DAYS
    ACTIVITIES
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

    Survey for Services (A)


    Marking out (B)
    Excavation (C)
    Reinforcement cages preparation (D)
    Concreting of bases (E)
    Drying and semi curing of bases (F)
    Concreting of plinths (G)
    Curing of concrete (H)
    pole sub-assembling (I)
    Solar frame sub-assembly (J)
    Transport to site (K)
    complete street light pole assembly with
    mounting and setting of controller (L)
    Erection of pole (M)
    Drilling of aeration holes on battery boxes (N)
    Transport of battery boxes and batteries to site
    and placement (O)
    Connection of battery cables (P)
    Burying of Battery (Q)
    switching on (R)
    Compaction and concreting (S)
    Curing of concrete (T)

    TIE 5208 ©NUST, 2018


    Page 6 of 6

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