Assignment Aim: To facilitate learning through research and investigation, solution formulation and writing activities. Take time to reflect on the materials gathered and communicate your understanding about the material using your own words. Ensure you understand the material you present on your submission document well enough to be comfortable to explain your answers.
A Note of Caution: D2L will screen your submission through Turnitin, an online text-matching program that detects faulty paraphrasing and multiple submissions of written assignments. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence that is grounds for failure of a course or even expulsion from Northern Lights College. If plagiarism is detected by your instructor for the first time, the plagiarized material will usually receive a zero, as per the policy.
Marks: 15% of total course grade.
Required: Citation and referencing based on HBS style.
Answer all questions. Write your name on the assignment solution and include page numbers on your submission document.
This assignment is out of 60 marks.
1. Define the term management science.
2. List and discuss the steps of the decision making process by separating the steps in two broader categories: (5 marks)
a. Structuring the problem and
b. Analyzing the problem.
3. Discuss the different roles played by the qualitative and quantitative approaches to management decision making.
4. Why is it important for a manager to have a good understanding of both of the qualitative and quantitative approaches to management decision making?
5. What are the advantages of analyzing and experimenting with a model as opposed to real object of situation?
6. FSJ Welding Supply Co. sells welding related products in the North Peace area. It buys and receives shipment of a type of mini generator it sells from both Vancouver and Calgary. Let
A = number of mini generators received from Calgary
B = number of mini generators received from Vancouver
a. Write an expression for the total number of generators received by FSJ Welding Supply Co..
b. Shipments from Calgary costs $200 per unit and shipments from Vancouver costs $250. Write an objective function representing the total cost of shipments.
c. Assuming the monthly demand for the mini generator is 300 units, develop a constraint that requires 300 units to be shipped to FSJ Welding Supply Co.
d. No more than 150 units can be shipped from Calgary, and no more than 150 units can be shipped from Vancouver. Write a constraint function for this situation.
e. Develop and present a mathematical model to determine the minimum mini generator related shipping cost for FSJ Welding Supply Co. Negative amounts cannot be shipped.
7. ABC Soccer Inc. makes two different types of soccer balls: a regular model and a deluxe model. The firm has 900 hours of production time available in the cutting and sewing department, 300 hours available in the finishing department, 100 hours available in the packaging and shipping department. The production time requirements and the profit contribution per ball as following:
Production Time (hours)
Model Cutting and Sewing Finishing Packaging and Shipping Profit/Ball
Regular 1.00 0.50 0.13 $ 5.00
Deluxe 1.50 0.33 0.25 $ 8.00
ABC Soccer Inc. is interested in maximizing total profit contribution. Answer the following:
a. What is the linear programming model for this problem?
b. Find the optimal solution using the graphical solution procedure. How many balls of each model should ABC make?
c. What is the total profit contribution ABC Soccer Inc. can earn with the given production quantities?
d. How many hours of production time will be scheduled for each department?
e. What is the slack time in each department?
8. What is network flow problem?
9. List and describe the five types of problems that belong to network flow problem category?
10. Define the following management science terms:
a. Flow capacity
b. Maximal flow
c. Dummy origin
d. Deterministic model
e. Iconic model
f. Analog model
g. Infeasible solution
h. Redundant constraints