Sysco Foods is a statewide food distributor to restaurants, universities, and other establishments that prepare and sell food. The company has a very large warehouse where the food is stored until it is pulled from the shelves to be delivered to the customers. The warehouse has 64 storage racks numbered 1-64. Each rack is three shelves high, labeled A, B, and C, and each shelf is divided into 80 sections, numbered 1-80. Products are located by rack number, shelf letter, and section number. For example, breakfast cereal is located at 43-A-52 (rack 43, shelf A, section 52).
Each week, employees perform an inventory for a sample of products. Certain products are selected and counted. The actual count is compared to the book count (the quantity in the records that should be in stock). To simplify things, assume that the company has selected breakfast cereals to inventory. Also for simplicity sake, suppose the cereals occupy racks 1 through 5.
a. Assume that you plan to use simple random sampling to select the sample. Use Excel or Minitab to determine the sections on each of the five racks to be sampled.
b. Assume that you wish to use cluster random sampling to select the sample. Discuss the steps you would take to carry out the sampling.
c. In this case, why might cluster sampling be preferred over simple random sampling? Discuss.