Name:……………....................... Roll No……………………………………..

Invigilator’s Signature : ………………………

Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode

End-Term Exam, EPGP KOCHI – BATCH 09
OPERATIONS RESEARCH
Max Time: 2.5 Hours Date : October 8, 2022
Max Marks: 60 Faculty : P N Ram Kumar
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READ INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY
a) This is a CLOSED-BOOK INVIGILATED/PROCTORED EXAM
b) Answer all the questions.
c) All electronic devices (except a calculator) are strictly prohibited inside the
examination hall.
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QUESTIONS

Section 1: Each question in this section carries only 1 mark

1. Present a numerical example of a linear programming problem for which there is no feasible
solution at all.
2. Explain in one sentence, how Simplex method works?
3. List two differences between PERT and CPM techniques?
4. State the important limitation with the usage of graphical method while solving LPP.
5. The random numbers that are usually generated from a computer are referred to as “pseudo
random numbers”. Why?

Section 2: Each question in this section, except Q10, carries 10 marks

6. There are six cities in region R. The region must determine where to build fire stations. The region
wants to build minimum number of fire stations and ensure that at least one fire station is near 15
minutes of each city. The travel times (in minutes) required to drive between cities are as follows.
Develop a mathematical model to determine the optimal locations.
Name:……………....................... Roll No……………………………………..

From/to 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 0 10 20 30 30 20
2 10 0 25 35 20 10
3 20 25 0 15 30 20
4 30 35 15 0 15 25
5 30 20 30 15 0 14
6 20 10 20 25 14 0

7. A company has signed the following contract to supply customers A and B for the next 3 months. The
company can produce 40 units per month at a cost of $100 per unit on regular time and an additional
10 units per month on overtime at a cost of $120 per unit. They can store units at a cost of $10 per
unit per month.
The contract allows the company to fall short on its supply commitment to customer A during
the months of June and July, but this incurs a penalty cost of $5 per unit per month; however, all
shipments are to be completed by August. No shortages are allowed for customer B and his demands
must be satisfied on the months specified. The company wishes to determine the optimal production
schedule that will minimize the total cost of production, storage, and shortage. Formulate this as a
transportation problem. (Do not formulate it as simple LP. A transportation table is NECESSARY and
SUFFICIENT).

June July August

Customer A 30 20 15

Customer B 20 20 10

8. In an IT company, a project manager needs to assign four projects to four different and
independent teams. Any team can handle only one project and vice-versa. Based on his past
experience, he has developed the following table that gives information about the time (in
months) that is likely to be taken by each of the teams to complete different projects. Set up a
linear programming model to determine the optimal assignment of projects to teams so as to
complete all the projects in the least possible time (Hint: Projects by different teams are generally
handled simultaneously).
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Project
Team 1 2 3 4
1 10 9 7 8
2 6 8 10 12
3 12 15 6 9
4 9 11 13 10

9. Please refer to the case titled “Freemark Abbey Winery (abridged)” provided with this question
paper. Construct a decision tree and determine the best course of action.

10. Explain the working of AHP with a real-life example by considering at least 2 qualitative and 1
quantitative criteria. Please use hypothetical values for Eigen vectors. (5 marks)
11. A project has the following characteristics.

Immediate
Activity Duration (days)
Predecessors

A - 1

B A 4

C A 2

D A 2

E D 3

F D 3

G E 2

H F,G 1

I C,H 3

J B 2
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Compute the project completion time and identify the critical/non-critical activities with their slack values.

*****END OF QUESTION PAPER*****