CASE : County Beverage Drive-Thru, Inc.
County Beverage Drive-Thru, Inc., operates a chain of beverage supply stores in northern
Illinois. Each store has a single service lane; cars enter at one end of the store and exit at the other end. Customers pick up soft drinks, beer, snacks, and party supplies without getting out of their cars. When a new customer arrives at the store, the customer waits until the preceding customer s order is complete and then drives up to the store order window for service.
Typically, three employees operate each store during peak periods; one clerk takes orders, another clerk fills orders, and a third clerk serves as cashier and store supervisor. County
Beverage is considering a revised store design in which computerized order-taking and payment are integrated with specialized warehousing equipment. Management hopes that the new design will permit operating each store with one clerk. To determine whether the new design is beneficial, management decided to build a new store using the revised design.
County Beverage s new store will be located near a major shopping center. Based on experience at other locations, management believes that during the peak late afternoon and evening hours, the time between arrivals follows an exponential probability distribution with a mean of six minutes. These peak hours are the most critical time period for the company; most of the company s profit is generated during these peak hours.
An extensive study of times required to fill orders with a single clerk led to the following probability distribution of service times:
In case customer waiting times prove too long with just a single clerk, County Beverage s management is considering two design alternatives: (1) add a second clerk to help with bagging, taking orders, and related tasks (still functioning as a single-server system and serving one car), or (2) enlarge the drive-through area so that two cars can be served at once (operating as a two-server system). With either of these options, two clerks will be needed. With the two-server option, service times are expected to be the same for each clerk (server). With the second clerk teaming with the first clerk in the single server design, service times will be reduced and would be given by the probability distribution in the following table.
County Beverage s management would like you to develop a spreadsheet simulation model of the new system and use it to compare the operation of the system using the following three designs:
Management is especially concerned with how long customers have to wait for service. Research has shown that 30% of the customers will wait no longer than 6 minutes and that 90% will wait no longer than 10 minutes. As a guideline, management requires the average waiting time to be less than 1.5 minutes.
Managerial Report
Prepare a report that discusses the general development of the spreadsheet simulation model, and make any recommendations that you have regarding the best store design and staffing plan for County Beverage. One additional consideration is that the design allowing for a two-server system will cost an additional $10,000 to build.
1. List the information the spreadsheet simulation model should generate so that a decision can be made on the store design and the desired number of clerks.
Some of the factors to include in the spreadsheet simulation model would be: service availability to the customers, order size, service periods, number of lost customers, waiting number of customers, service completed for each customer, and profit.
2. Run the simulation for 1000 customers for each alternative considered. You may want to consider making more than one run with each alternative. Note: Values from an exponential probability distribution with mean can be generated in Excel using the following function: = *LN(RAND()).
3. Be sure to note the number of customers County Beverage is likely to lose due to long customer waiting times with each design alternative.
Our Service Charter
-
Excellent Quality / 100% Plagiarism-Free
We employ a number of measures to ensure top quality essays. The papers go through a system of quality control prior to delivery. We run plagiarism checks on each paper to ensure that they will be 100% plagiarism-free. So, only clean copies hit customers’ emails. We also never resell the papers completed by our writers. So, once it is checked using a plagiarism checker, the paper will be unique. Speaking of the academic writing standards, we will stick to the assignment brief given by the customer and assign the perfect writer. By saying “the perfect writer” we mean the one having an academic degree in the customer’s study field and positive feedback from other customers. -
Free Revisions
We keep the quality bar of all papers high. But in case you need some extra brilliance to the paper, here’s what to do. First of all, you can choose a top writer. It means that we will assign an expert with a degree in your subject. And secondly, you can rely on our editing services. Our editors will revise your papers, checking whether or not they comply with high standards of academic writing. In addition, editing entails adjusting content if it’s off the topic, adding more sources, refining the language style, and making sure the referencing style is followed. -
Confidentiality / 100% No Disclosure
We make sure that clients’ personal data remains confidential and is not exploited for any purposes beyond those related to our services. We only ask you to provide us with the information that is required to produce the paper according to your writing needs. Please note that the payment info is protected as well. Feel free to refer to the support team for more information about our payment methods. The fact that you used our service is kept secret due to the advanced security standards. So, you can be sure that no one will find out that you got a paper from our writing service. -
Money Back Guarantee
If the writer doesn’t address all the questions on your assignment brief or the delivered paper appears to be off the topic, you can ask for a refund. Or, if it is applicable, you can opt in for free revision within 14-30 days, depending on your paper’s length. The revision or refund request should be sent within 14 days after delivery. The customer gets 100% money-back in case they haven't downloaded the paper. All approved refunds will be returned to the customer’s credit card or Bonus Balance in a form of store credit. Take a note that we will send an extra compensation if the customers goes with a store credit. -
24/7 Customer Support
We have a support team working 24/7 ready to give your issue concerning the order their immediate attention. If you have any questions about the ordering process, communication with the writer, payment options, feel free to join live chat. Be sure to get a fast response. They can also give you the exact price quote, taking into account the timing, desired academic level of the paper, and the number of pages.