Management Science 2014-15 Coursework
Administration and Submission Requirements
This coursework is worth 30% of the total module mark. It needs to be done in Groups, as assigned on Moodle. Please submit your report to Moodle as a single group report with the exception of individual contribution statements, which should be submitted individually. Marks are deducted for late submission according to standard Cass undergraduate regulations.
Submission is required by Wednesday 11 March 2015 by 4:00pm.
Individual Contribution Statements consists of an individual statement by each group member of no more than 250 words, outlining their contribution to the project and perspective on the contribution of others. If the statement is missing or does not reach the acceptable minimum standard then the individual will be awarded zero. These reports should be uploaded by each individual themselves and not as part of the group report.
The minimum acceptable standard is defined to mean that: x It is not a copy of someone else’s i.e. all statements are individual x It conveys details of what you contributed.
I anticipate a single group mark for each contribution. However, if I deem your contribution to be significantly less than others, then I reserve the right to amend the marks to reflect contribution.
Each submission made should be entirely independent of any other submission. There are severe penalties for plagiarism.
You should use a 12 point font size and line spacing of 1.5 with blank line between paragraphs. Margins should be set to “Normal”.
Use Harvard System for referencing.
In the answer to each question, be sure to explain clearly which model you have decided to use and why.
Grading criteria will be the same for each case and based upon: x Correct model choice and calculation x Managerial interpretation of results x Discussion of assumptions underlying analysis x Appropriate presentation
Case 1: TexMex Foods (50%)
TexMex Foods operates a plant in Irving, Texas, for manufacturing taco sauce used in fast-food restaurants. The sauce, which is packaged in plastic containers, is made from a special recipe that includes tomato concentrate, onions, and chilli peppers that TexMex purchases from various suppliers. The plant operates 365 days a year and TexMex uses an annual holding cost rate of 18%.
Tomato Concentrate
TexMex Foods purchases its tomato concentrate from Hunt Farms. The company requires 2500 gallons of concentrate per day to manufacture this sauce. Hunt Farms offers customers the following all units price discount schedule:
Number of Gallons Ordered Price per Gallon ($)
1-9999 3.12
10000 – 49999 3.08
50000 – 124999 3.02
125000 – 249999 3.01
250000 or more 2.96
The shelf life of the concentrate is 80 days and the ordering cost is $750. Orders must be placed in 1000-gallon increments. The lead time for delivery is 10 days. Management wishes to determine the optimal ordering policy for concentrate.
Onions
In the cooking process, the amount of onion required weekly follows a normal distribution with mean 16000 pounds and standard deviation 4000 pounds. Onions cost $0.15 per pound. If any are left over at the end of the week, they are unusable and thrown away. If TexMex finds themselves running short of onions, they would need to make an emergency purchase from a local supermarket. They would have to pay the retail cost of onion at $0.95 per pound. Management wants to determine the optimal order policy for onions.
Chilli Peppers
TexMex also needs an estimated 2000 pounds of chilli peppers daily. The peppers cost $0.37 per pound. Order cost, including transportation, is $1500. Lead time is normally two weeks but may vary somewhat. Because of this variability, the company estimates that the lead time demand for chilli peppers follows approximately a normal distribution with mean of 28000 pounds and a standard deviation of 4000 pounds. Management wants to determine the optimal ordering policy for chilli peppers to meet a desired service level of 99.5%.
Plastic Containers
TexMex packages the sauce in one-ounce plastic containers it buys from Union Chemical at $0.003 per unit. The ordering cost is $120. TexMex is contemplating leasing a machine to make the containers. The yearly lease cost of the machine is $45000, and the production setup cost of the machine is $260. The machine can produce 1 million containers per day at a per unit cost of $0.0027 (excluding leasing, inventory holding and production setup costs). The company estimates that it requires 450000 containers per day. Management wants to determine whether it should continue purchasing containers from Union Chemical or begin in-house production and what the optimal policy should be.