A chemical plant stores spare parts for maintenance in a large warehouse. Throughout the working day, maintenance personnel go to the warehouse to pick up supplies needed for their jobs. The warehouse receives a request for supplies, on average, every three minutes. The average request requires 2.6 minutes to fill. Maintenance employees are paid $24 per hour and warehouse employees are paid $14 per hour. The warehouse operates 8 hours per day.
a) Based on the number of maintenance employees in the system, an 8 hour work day, and the given arrival and service rates. What is the system cost per day (to the nearest $) if there is only 1 warehouse employees working?
b) Based on the number of maintenance employees in the system, an 8 hour work day, and the given arrival and service rates. What is the system cost per day (to the nearest $) if there are 2 warehouse employees working?
c) Based on the number of maintenance employees in the system, an 8 hour work day, and the given arrival and service rates. What is the system cost per day (to the nearest $) if there are 3 warehouse employees working?
d) What is the optimal number of warehouse employees to staff the warehouse?