MS6325: Operations Management
Homework Assignment 4
Due in 4th class on Oct. 7, 2016
Ø Concept Check and Practice Problems
1. Couples who are having difficulty conceiving children are increasingly turning to
...
MS6325: Operations Management
Homework Assignment 4
Due in 4th class on Oct. 7, 2016
Ø Concept Check and Practice Problems
1. Couples who are having difficulty conceiving children are increasingly turning to
in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. A patient undergoes 1 month of initial screening
appointments, then with 50% probability commences with a sequence of IVF
treatment cycles. Each treatment cycle takes 2 months, and may or may not result in
a successful pregnancy. It is estimated that among patients who go through the first
cycle, 30% do not return for a second cycle (because of a successful pregnancy on
the first try, financial limitations, personal reasons, etc.) Of those who do return for
a second cycle, they undergo on average 1.5 more cycles (in addition to the first
cycle).
A local fertility center sees two new patients per business day on average. Assume
20 business days per month.
(a) [3] What fraction of the local center’s active patients are in their first treatment
cycle? (An active patient is defined as a patient in the initial screening phase or any
treatment cycle.)
(b) [3] Patients pay $10,000 per treatment cycle. The initial screening appointments
are not charged. What are the annual IVF revenues of the fertility center?
Answer:
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Operations Management
(Find the critical path.) Consider the following process flow diagram and
accompanying table. This depicts a generic billing process flow, where resource
pools work in parallel. That is, all splits in the flow are “AND.” A job must flow
through all resource pools to be completed. The average waiting time refers to the
average wait in front of the resource pool. Assume that each resource pool has one
server.
(a) [2] What is the length of the critical path in minutes?
(b) [2] What is the capacity of the billing system in bills per minute?
Answer:
A local fertility center sees two new patients per business day on average. Assume 20 business days
per month.
(a) [3] What fraction of the local center’s active patients are in their first treatment cycle? (An active
patient is defined as a patient in the initial screening phase or any treatment cycle.)
(b) [3]
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