Reference no: EM132508183
7ENT1070 Operations Research Assignment - University of Hertfordshire, UK
Assignment Title - Simulation Consultancy Task
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF - Students, you should delete this section before submitting your work. This Assignment assesses the following module Learning Outcomes:
1. Select and apply quantitative modelling concepts for problem solving and decision making.
2. Use classical decision theory as aid to decision making.
3. Acquire a critical awareness of the logical process of modelling complex decision problems.
4. Apply techniques and practice to model real-world problems.
5. Derive solution(s) using a suitable software package when required.
6. Critically analyse and report results.
Assignment Brief - Assume you have been given a consultancy task by Yuwen Chen's factory which involves studying machine breakdown situation in their factory and the consequences of the breakdowns on their operations. The scenario in question has been adapted from Problem F.2 of Heizer et. al. (2016, p. 840).
The number of machine breakdowns per day at Yuwen Chen's factory is 0, 1, or 2, with probabilities 0.5, 0.3, or 0.2, respectively.
1. Make a Monte-Carlo Hand Simulation to generate the number of breakdowns for 10 consecutive days. The following random numbers have been generated for you to use in the hand simulation 13, 14, 02, 18, 31, 19, 32, 85, 31, and 94. What proportion of these days had at least one breakdown?
Yuwen Chen's factory has five (5) identical machines and the machines operate in parallel. Jobs arriving the factory are required to be processed only on any ONE of the machines. The jobs are loaded on machines on first come first served basis. Jobs inter-arrival times are exponentially distributed with rate parameter set to 8 minutes. The operation times follow a uniform distribution between 5 and 15 minutes.
2. Using Witness OR Flexsim Simulation Software, conduct a computer simulation of the factory to study the effect of machine breakdowns on operations.
a) Develop a brief for Yuwen Chen's factory simulation task; describe the process involved in the factory operations and present a process map of the operations. State and discuss your assumptions.
b) Develop a Simulation model for the Yuwen Chen's factory task.
c) Use the simulation model developed to estimate the average number of jobs completed per day i.e. 1,080 minutes.
d) Discuss your results.
Yuwen Chen's factory is interested in using a virtual engineering platform to explore their simulation models.
3. Critically discuss the benefits the factory could derive from conducting their simulation studies on a virtual engineering platform.
Your technical report must be written in an appropriate format and must contain no more than 3000 words including any diagrams, calculations, figures and/or tables where appropriate.
Attachment:- Operations Research Assignment File.rar