Quantitative Analysis for Management, 13/e

Solved Problems

1. Solved Problem 12-1 The Maitland Furniture store gets an average of 50 customers per shift. The manager of Maitland wants to calculate whether she should hire 1, 2, 3, or 4 salespeople. She has determined that average waiting times will be 7 minutes with 1 salesperson, 4 minutes with 2 salespeople, 3 minutes with 3 salespeople, and 2 minutes with 4 salespeople. She has estimated the cost per minute that customers wait at $1. The cost per salesperson per shift (including benefits) is $70.

   How many salespeople should be hired?

   Solution

   The manager’s calculations are as follows:

   NUMBER OF SALESPEOPLE
   1	2	3	4
   (a) Average number of customers per shift	50	50	50	50
   (b) Average waiting time per customer (minutes)	7	4	3