2022-2023 Semester 1B
Operations and Logistics Management
E&BE
Mandatory tutorial #2
Tutorial lecturer (X. Zhang)
Group 4, Team 9
Date: 11th December
Student 1 Name: Siem Kuijpers
Student 1 Number: S4870697
Student 2 Name: Wilmer Muis
Student 2 Number: S4921674
By electronically submitting this assignment to the Brightspace, we claim that:
1) Our team is the author of the document;
2) We did not make use of work from other teams;
3) Nothing has been taken from other sources without proper acknowledgment;
4) The submitted work is the product of preparation and discussion among our team members,
so there is no split of work without an agreement on the answers among all members.
5) We understand that a student or a team cannot repel that because one member has not done
the work that he/she had been assigned to do at the last minute before the submission deadline,
the other students in the team should not be blamed for the incomplete assignment (an advice
is that you do not wait till the last minute to discuss with your teammates about the assignment);
6) We understand that a student cannot repel the accusation of plagiarism by stating that in the
team all agreed to a division of the work or that one of the team members committed the actual
plagiarism and that he/she should not be held responsible;
7) We have not allowed anyone to copy our work.
Q1.1
1) Concerning beef-lamb kebabs, there is a kitchen on the ground surface in a factory
where they prepare the food. They cook, grill and barbecue meat at a high quality, even
with charcoal, which gives the beef-lamb kebabs an extra bit of taste to it. The food goes
into oven boxes at the packing facility and gets loaded up with trolleys that get
transported to the airplanes by trucks. The process type for beef-lamb kebabs is batch
process. The kebabs simultaneously undergo the same operations in batches and the
products are similar.
2) For the sandwiches, these are made in ‘the cold factory’. Here they use a conveyor belt
to put the ingredients on the sandwiches piece by piece and apply the finishing touches,
after which they do the preparing and plating for the aircraft before loading. Here, the
food gets transported to the airplanes by trucks as well. The process type for the
sandwiches is line process. The sandwiches undergo the same sequence of operations
one-by-one, on the conveyor belt, rather than simultaneously, which is the case for the
kebabs.
For both beef-lamb kebabs and sandwiches, the layout type is product layout. The products
have their own departments for the production.
(200 words)
Q1.2
1) While in the air, at high altitudes passengers lose about 33% of their tasting ability. So to
make sure that the customers have the best experience with ordering food on the
airplanes, the chefs make sure to enhance the taste of the prepared food. Gate
Gourmet’s uses moisture and other elements, like savory umami, to ensure that the food
has the same taste, or even better, in the sky as on the ground. And on some airlines,
there are even chefs onboard adding flavorful spices and sauces to the end product.
2) To get all the food on the airplane could be a real pain. And with this comes uncertainty
if the fresh food can be delivered on time. Gate Gourmet’s sends the food to the plane
via a truck. These trucks can rise high enough to load the food into widebody planes.
This way the food can be delivered right into the plane. By not having to unload the truck
and reload the food into the airplane, a lot of time can be saved and the efficiency of
delivery will be enhanced.
(182 words)
Q2.1
For the first option with the big screen:
The inter-arrival time is 15 min, and the processing time is 10min*0.6 = 6 min. The average
number in the system can be calculated by Ls = λ/(μ-λ). Where λ = 60/15 = 4 and μ = 60/6 = 10.
So Ls = 4/(10-4) = ⅔. Then the total cost (per day) can be calculated by adding the TV cost of
€99.5 per day, Thomas’s wage of €10 per hour times the number of hours which is 8, and Ls
times 8 and times €10 which is how much it costs the company to have a customer in their
system. So the TC = 99.5 + 10*8 + ⅔*8*10 = 99.5 + 80 + 53.33 = €232.83
For the second option with the extra clerk:
The inter-arrival time is 15 min, and the processing time is 10min/2 = 5 min. The average
number in the system can be calculated by Ls = λ/(μ-λ). Where λ = 60/15 = 4 and μ = 60/5 = 12.
So Ls = 4/(12-4) = ½. Then the total cost (per day) can be calculated by adding the cost of the
extra clerk of €75 per day, Thomas’s wage of €10 per hour times the number of hours which is
8, and Ls times 8 and times €10 which is how much it costs the company to have a customer in
their system. So the TC = 75 + 10*8 + ½*8*10 = 75 + 80 + 40 = €195
So to minimize cost the bank should adopt the second option of hiring an extra clerk.
Q2.2
The probability that there will be exactly k customers can be calculated by:
P(n=k) = P(n>k-1)-P(n>k)
Where P(n>k) = (λ/μ)(k+1)
λ = 4 and μ = 12
So the probability that there will be exactly two customers in the system is:
P(n=k) = (4/12)((2-1)+1) - (4/12)(2+1) = (⅓)2 - (⅓)3 = 1/9 - 1/27 = 2/27 ≈ 0.074 or 7.4%
Q2.3
The total cost function:
𝑇𝐶 =
λ
µ−λ
* 𝐶𝑤 * 𝑇 + 𝑁 * 𝐶𝑓 * 𝑇
Where N is the number of clerks working in the system
Since we assume that every clerk works at the same rate we know that the service rate will be
doubled every time the amount of clerks is doubled. So if we denote the service rate with one
clerk working as μ1 then we can rewrite the equation as:
𝑇𝐶 =
λ
𝑁*μ1−λ
* 𝐶𝑤 * 𝑇 + 𝑁 * 𝐶𝑓 * 𝑇
Or since μ = N*μ1 so N = μ/μ1 we can also write it as:
𝑇𝐶 =
λ
µ−λ
* 𝐶𝑤 * 𝑇 + (μ/μ1) * 𝐶𝑓 * 𝑇
(The unfluent line is not intentional)
The minimal cost can be calculated by taking the derivative of TC with respect to μ:
𝑑𝑇𝐶
𝑑μ
=−
λ*𝐶𝑤*𝑇
2
(μ−λ)
+
𝐶𝑓*𝑇
μ1
And then setting it equal to 0 we end up with μoptimal:
−
λ*𝐶𝑤*𝑇
2
(μ−λ)
+
𝐶𝑓*𝑇
μ1
= 0→
λ*𝐶𝑤*𝑇
2
(μ−λ)
=
𝐶𝑓*𝑇
μ1
→µ =
µ1*λ
𝐶𝑓
+ λ
If we then fill in that μoptimal into the TC function we end up with the lowest TC
Q3.1
There are several challenges that non governmental organizations-business relationships face,
but with the formation of social capital and using it as a driver these could be mitigated. The
study showed that social capital not only had a boding role, but also had a bridging role for
these relationships. More specifically, the research showed that cognitive and structural capital
create the fundamentals that can be leveraged in synergy with relational capital to improve the
interorganizational relationships. The upside of the relationship for the NGO is that they need to
respond to complex situations and demands of disaster where the businesses could enhance
the supply chain capabilities by providing donations, pro bono resources, and knowledge on
supply chain processes. NGOs on the other hand might contribute to the sustainability efforts of
their business partners.
(131 words)
Q3.2
How do NGO-business relationships influence other businesses not included in the
relationship? It is important to know why and how NGOs can influence the decisions made by
businesses not included in the relationship, because this gives insight into the way that NGOs
have power over businesses. If it is known how NGOs can influence other businesses, then this
can be used for the greater good.
(65 words)
Q3.3
It is connected to the lecture's contents about the triple bottom line model and sustainability.
NGOs can use their relationships (NGO1-B1 relationship here) with partners to influence other
businesses to pursue sustainable activities, for example large pharmaceutical companies.
As NGOs become more involved in commercial supply chains, they can contribute more to the
sustainability efforts of their partners. Within the global supply chain of the partner, the NGO can
thus serve as a means to overcome sustainability challenges.
(78 words)