ETPI Tradeshow Staff Planning



ETPI Tradeshow Staff PlanningAmy A. TellerThe College of William and Mary, Mason School of Business, Online MBAAbstractThrough an examination of service requirements, utilizing formulas from queuing theory, ETPI’s marketing department can manage waiting times and apply a systematic cost analysis to determine the optimum number of tradeshow booth workers. This analysis weighs the trade-off between the cost of adding additional workers to provide faster service, and the cost of waiting, including the potential loss of customers through either balking or reneging (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Keywords: Queuing theory, reneging, balkingETPI Tradeshow Staff PlanningA thorough waiting-line analysis and simulation enables, ETPI’s marketing department to manage waiting times for its potential customers and apply a systematic cost analysis to determine the optimum number of tradeshow booth workers. This analysis weighs the trade-off between the cost of adding additional workers to provide faster service, and the cost of waiting, including the potential loss of customers through either balking or reneging (Jacobs & Chase, 2011). Waiting line analysis scenario 1: During busy timesThis analysis assumes that during busy times, 60 potential customers per hour arrive at the booth, and 10 potential customers arrive per hour during slack times, and a booth worker takes 3.75 minutes, on average, to meet the information needs of a potential customer.Prompt 1Six booth workers are required for the average potential customer to spend no more than five minutes waiting in line and being served, with an average time in the system of 0.0688 hours, or 4.13 minutes. With six booth workers, 0.38 potential customers will be waiting in line, on average, and the utilization rate of the booth workers is 0.625. In other words, the worker will be busy 62.5% of the time. (Table 1).Prompt 2. Seven booth workers are required for the average potential customer to spend no more than four minutes waiting in line and being served, with an average time in the system of 0.064 hours, or 3.87 minutes. With seven booth workers, 0.119 potential customers will be waiting in line, on average, and the utilization rate of the booth workers is 0.536. In other words, the worker will be busy 53.6% of the time. (Table 1).Prompt 3. After applying a cost analysis (Table 2), it is evident that between the two alternatives, it is most cost-effective to have six booth workers. The cost of adding an additional worker is more than the savings generated by having fewer customers waiting in line. In other words, the total cost of seven workers is more than the total cost of six workers. Waiting line analysis scenario 2: During slack timesPrompt 1. Two booth workers are required for the average potential customer to spend no more than five minutes waiting in line and being served, with an average time in the system of 0.069 hours, or 4.16 minutes. With two booth workers, 0.68 potential customers will be waiting in line, on average, and the utilization rate of the booth workers is 0.313. In other words, the worker will be busy 31.3% of the time. (Table 1).Prompt 2. Three booth workers are required for the average potential customer to spend no more than four minutes waiting in line and being served, with an average time in the system of 0.064 hours, or 3.79 minutes. With three booth workers, 0.007 potential customers will be waiting in line, on average, and the utilization rate of the booth workers is 0.208. In other words, the worker will be busy 20.8% of the time. (Table 1).Prompt 3. After running a simple cost analysis (Table 2), it is evident that between the two alternatives, employing two booth workers is the best choice, because the cost of adding an additional worker is more than the savings generated by that additional worker. In other words, the total cost of three workers is more than the total cost of two workers. In both scenarios—during busy and slack times—adding an additional booth worker decreases the average total time in the system (waiting in line and being served) for potential customers; however, because the service cost is more than the waiting cost, it is more cost-effective to have fewer booth workers.ReferencesJacobs, F., & Chase, R. (2011).?Operations and supply chain management?(14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.Jacobs, F., & Chase, R. (2011).?Chapter 10 Excel template: QueueModels. Operations and supply chain management?(14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Retrieved from 1Tradeshow staff planning operating characteristics Note: The Lq values in the text may differ slightly from the Lq on this template. The values of Lq in this template are based on a queue formula retrieved from 2Tradeshow staff planning financial analysis ................
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