Final Exam for RCH520: Read and review the following materials. ABC Hardware Store is a very small hardware store in a small town. It has just gotten a new manager, and she has called you in to observe the operations of the store and propose ways to increase profits and efficiencies. The hardware store has all the basics in terms of supplies, but their niche is that they have the best Items A, B, and C in the state. People come from all over to get them, and much of the companys reputation is because of these items. As you enter the store, you see three checkout areas, and Margie, the cashier, has seven people in line, and the customers at the end of the line are not happy. She is the only one working a cash register at the moment. There is a single line corral, so each customer would get the next available cashier if more than one would be working. You witness the last person in line returning their item to the shelf and leaving without purchasing an item. Throughout the day, you notice that Margies line usually has between 4 and 7 people in it, and she is working as fast as she can. On average, a new person gets in line every 3 minutes, and it takes 3.5 minutes to serve the customer. When the line gets bad enough, the floor employees Zac and Fran will usually come up and man the other registers until the line goes down. They return to the floor when the line is more manageable. As you continue to roam the store, you arrive at the station that creates items A, B, and C. There are machines that construct make each item from parts, and there are 3 machines in all. You learn the following about who is trained to operate the machines, what they can make, how long it takes to make a single item, and the number of hours each employee works each week.

Operator	Item A	Item B	Item C	Hours/week at the machine	Hourly salary
Brett	1 hour to make	45 minutes to make	45 minutes to make	20	$17.25
Myra	45 minutes to make	90 minutes to make	45 minutes to make	15	$18.00
Candice	30 minutes to make	30 minutes to make	1.25 hours to make	15	$16

You also learn the cost it takes to make each item, the items boxed dimensions (when assembled), and the selling price of each.

	Item A	Item B	Item C
Cost to make/unit	$40	$36	$26
Space it takes up when boxed	3 feet x 4 feet x 1 foot	2 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet	4 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet
Average demand per week	15	25	30
Selling Price	$220	$300	$185.00

You enter a small warehouse/receiving area in the back of the store. It has about 400 square feet of space, half of which is taken up by quite a few of surplus item Bs and other non-perishable items. Then, about 75 square feet is taken up by stacks of Parts 1-5 which are needed to build Items A, B, and C. Ben, the warehouse manager of the store is ordering based on the JIT system to keep the parts for Items A, B, and C coming. Yesterdays order consisted of 3 Part 1s, 6 Part 2s, 7 part 3s, 1 Part 4, and 1 Part 5.

	Item A needs	Item B needs	Item C needs	Cost for buying 1	Cost for buying 10	Size in Feet
Part 1	2	3	0	$10	$80	1x1x1
Part 2	1	0	3	$5	$40	1x1x1
Part 3	0	2	2	$3	$20	1x1x1
Part 4	1	0	0	$8	$70	1x1x1
Part 5	0	0	1	$2	$20	1x1x1

Brett, Myra, and Candice are not fans of Ben because they keep running out of the parts they need, and other times, they have way too much stacked up around them. When you asked Ben how he handles ordering, he said that he uses the same numbers as last year on the same date. The floor personnel you meet that are assisting customers are Zac and Fran. They are there to answer questions and help customers find items. They also run up to the cashier station when Margie is overwhelmed and carry items A, B, and C out to the customers vehicles. The task: Based on the scenario, pick THREE areas that we have discussed in class. In each case, do the following:

1. Summarize the problem and provide evidence that it exists Explain its connection to the course.
2. Propose a solution to the problem, making sure to explicitly explain how it directly ties to course content. Incorporate at much course content as you can.
3. Provide evidence (including calculations based off the tables) why your proposed solution will work. Remember, the class is Quantitative Analysis, so there should be numbers discussed throughout.
4. Incorporate no less than 1 scholarly source per section (minimum 3 total for the paper), cited in APA format.

The total project should be no shorter than 3 typed pages, written in APA format (double spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman). APA title page and Reference pages do not count.

Attachments:

Final-project....docx