ISE 403: Homework Lab #3, Fall 2013
Due: Monday- October 21, 2013 at 11:59pm



Embellishments to Problem 3, Lab #2, Receiving incoming Mechanical and Electronic parts. These embellishments are incremental, i.e. each embellishment expands the model further.
Make a copy of LAB3.doe located in the course website.
  1. Embellishment 1: Expand the model to include the stockroom operations. To detrash the containers and store parts, assume it takes a stockroom operator UNIF(10,15) minutes and UNIF(15,20) minutes for Mechanical parts and Electronic parts, respectively. Determine the number of stockroom operators you need to keep their utilization within a 85 to 95% range. Run your revised model with your recommended number of stockroom operators for 10 replications, each for five days, each day consists of three 8-hour shifts. Review the output report and answer the following questions:
      • What are the expected utilization of the operators (Mechanical Receivers, Electronic Receivers, Electronic Inspectors, and Stockroom Operators)?
      • What is the average WIP in the entire process?
      • What is the overall average cycle time for combined lots?
      • What percentage of time do lots spend waiting?
      • What is the oaverage cycle time for the Electronic lots sent to the stockroom?
      • What the average cycle time for the Mechanical Lots?
      • How many lots can be received per shift?

  2. Embellishment 2: Suppose the Stockroom supervisor wants to clear the area from the "bulky" Mechanicals. For this reason, he is placing a higher priority to store Mechanical parts. Revise your model to study the impact of this change on the cycle time. Review the output report and answer the following questions for before and after this operational policy change:
        • What is the average cycle time for the Electronic lots in the stockroom?
        • What is the average cycle time for the Mechanical lots in the stockroom?
  1. Embellishment 3: Suppose the supervisor of Receiving would like to consolidate the two receiving processes. Revise the model to determine the impact of consolidating the two areas, i.e., is it possible to remove one operator and maintain the same performance level? To monitor the behavior of the receiver queue, use a dynamic plot and set the Expression Synchronization feature.

  2. Embellishment 4: To keep the aisles clean, only a sample of components from the Electronics lots that are tagged for inspection are sent for inspection. The original lots are sent to the stockroom (as before, these lots remain in quarantine- "soft quarantined" by the inventory control system). After inspection, if a sample passes the inspection, the sample is sent to the stockroom to be added to the original lot (the quarantine flag is now removed); if it fails the inspection, as before, it is sent to the Material Review Board for further investigation (the original lot remains in the "soft quarantined" state). Detrashing and storing the original lots takes the same amount of time, UNIF(15,20). Storing samples though takes much less time, UNIF(3,5) minutes. Storing the samples has a higher priority over the original because this triggers the removal of the original lot from quarantine state and make them accessible to manufacturing. Revise your model to reflect this operation policy change. Determine if this change significantly reduces the WIP for Electronic lots ( do not include samples in your WIP as they are negligible). Use your output statistics from running your two models each for 10 replications to justify your conclusion. Hint: You need to use SEPARATE module in the BASIC PROCESS panel to duplicate entities. Also note that in the Category Overview Report WIP is reported by entity type.


In addition to any possible MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint files that answer the questions, called HWLAB3, turn in following ARENA files:

Q1. Turn in the model file (.doe) and call it "yournameHWLAB3p1.doe".

Q2. Turn in the model file (.doe) and call it "yournameHWLAB3p2.doe".

Q3. Turn in the model file (.doe) and call it "yournameHWLAB3p3.doe".

Q4. Turn in the model file (.doe) and call it "yournameHWLAB3p4.doe".