(a) You have an internship as a technology consultant with Deloitte in New York
ID: 382896 • Letter: #
Question
(a)
You have an internship as a technology consultant with Deloitte in New York city. Your
team is helping TSA (Transportation Security Administration
–
they manage security
screening at airports) understand how to manage their long lines and evaluate their
screening protocols.
a.
Your boss is about to go into a meeting with
your
clients at the TSA and has
asked you for some ideas to improve the passeng
ers’ experience. Provide 3 initial
recommendations based on the psychological principles of queueing that we
discussed in class.
b.
During the meeting, your clients asked you to analyze a dataset that includes the
number of passengers in line over the past
month in 15 minute increments (i.e.,
8am
–
X passengers, 8:15am
–
Y passengers, 8:30am
–
Z passengers, etc.). When
you get back to your desk and start going through it, you find that the number of
people in line is typically between 20 and 45. However, y
ou notice that every day
at 12:30pm, there are exactly 500 people in line, no matter how many people were
in line at 12:15pm, and at 12:45pm, the number of people in line drops to be
within the normal range of 20 and 45. In a few sentences, discuss how yo
u would
handle this.
(b)
Chris is the IOE facilities manager, and he’s trying to decide how many reams of papers
to order. IOE students use a lot of printer paper
–
each month he estimates they use 190
reams. The fixed cost to place an order is $30, and he
estimates it costs the department
$0.75 to hold a ream for month. After an order is placed, it takes ¼ of a month to arrive.
a.
What is the EOQ?
b.
What is the re
-
order point?
Explanation / Answer
(a)
a.
Three recommendations
Unoccupied time seems longer than occupied time - So, make an arrangement with the airport authority to install some TV screens in the location of the queue so that the passengers can view some theme videos e.g. safety regulations, process details of safety screening, history of TSA and so on.
Anxiety and unexplained wait make the wait feel longer - So, re-layout the queuing area so that all the passengers can see what is going on the security counter and how fast the personnel is actually working. This will reduce anxiety and let them feel the waiting time shorter.
Passengers want to get recognized as soon as they join the queue. Recognize their presence by starting small activities while they are waiting. For example, start distributing the tags for the hand baggage while they ware waiting - not before that. This will make them feel the waiting relevant and shorter.
b.
The data collection method has to be checked. It may happen that a particular service or activity could be required for all the passengers cumulatively at 12:30. So, the data includes the capacity of the queue of 500 in place of the actual queue. This can be confirmed by the people handling the data and the management of TSA. If that clarification is not available, it is better to ignore that portion of data in the analysis and decision-making process.
(b)
D = Monthly demand = 190 reams
S = fixed ordering cost = $30
H = Inventory holding cost = $0.75
a.
EOQ = (2.D.S/H)1/2 = sqrt(2*190*30/0.75) = 123.29 or 124 (rounded off)
b.
ROP = Average lead time demand = 1/4 x D = 190/4 = 47.5 or 48
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