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2018 EXAMINATIONS

PARTII (Second,ThirdandFinalYear)

MANAGEMENTSCIENCE

MSCI224 TechniquesforManagementDecisionMaking

PARTA: Answer QuestionA1 inthissectionofthepaper.

Question A1 (25marks)

Inpreparationofthisyearswinterseason,askiresortisdebatingtoexpanditscurrent

servicestoalsoincludesomeformofsnowcatskiing.Thisgrowingtrendintheinternational skiindustrystartedabout30yearsagoinBritishColumbiaandusesmodernfleetsofskihill groomingmachinestoprovideexpertskierswithaccesstothedeeppowderbackcountry, whichwouldnotbeservedbytraditionalliftsdueto a generallackofdemandbythemajority ofskiers.Basedonapreliminary customer survey tobetterunderstandthe potential useby itscurrentvisitors,theskiresortestimatesthattheaveragenumberofskierstoarriveand queueat a snowcatcollectionpointperminutewillfollowthefollowingdistribution:

No.Skiersin1minute

0

1

2

3

4

5

Probability

0.10

0.15

0.30

0.20

0.15

0.10

Basedonitscurrentsnowcatoperations,thetimebetweensnowcatdeparturesfromthe collectionpoint ispredictedto vary accordingtothefollowingdistribution:

No.minutes

2

3

4

Probability

0.2

0.5

0.3

Onceskiershavearrivedatthesnowcatcollectionpoint,theywaitinaqueueuntilthefirst snowcatarriveswhichhasroomtotakethem.Eachsnowcathasacapacityfor10people.


(a) Explainhowyouwoulduserandomnumberstomodelthevariabilityinthissituation.

(4 marks)

(b) Carryoutasimulationof10snowcatdeparturesfromthesnowcatcollectionpoint.Start

yoursimulationassumingthatasnowcat hasjustlefttakingalltheskierswhowerewaiting forit.Forthesimulationofthetimebetweenallfollowingsnowcatdepartures,startfromthe firstlineoftherandomnumbertablesandusesingledigits(e.g.,1,8,6,9,…)Similarly,for thesimulationoftheskierswhoarriveandqueue,startfromthesecondlineandusedouble digits(e.g.,90,42,07,45,…).Useyoursimulationtoestimatetheproportionofskierswho are ableor unabletogetonthefirstsnowcattoarriveaftertheyhavestartedwaiting.

(12 marks)

(c)Explainwhatismeantbya“warm-up”or“running-in”periodforasimulation.Howwould youdecidewhetheritisappropriatetousesuchaperiodinthissimulation?

(2 marks)

(d) Identify two ways in which you think your  simulation model may oversimplify what happensinanactual skiresortinwhichsnowcatskiingisalreadyoffered.Describehowyou couldmodifyyoursimulationmodeltoincludetheeffectsyouhaveidentified.

(4 marks)

(e)Whatare three potentialadvantagesorbenefitsofusingasimulationmodelofasituation comparedtoexperimentingwiththerealsystem?

(3 marks)