Question: Suppose the Bank runs a loading dock at which its trucks loads up items that are then delivered to various locations. There are three men who make up the loading team. Operating the loading dock with this team costs Generic $70/hour. To keep a truck waiting at the dock area costs money too: an hour’s wait for the driver (and truck) costs $100.

The three-man team can load a truck in the average time of 36 minutes. On the average, 1.2 trucks per hour arrive at the dock for loading.

The Bank is considering two alternatives. One is adding a fourth man to the loading team. The hourly cost of the four-man team would be $90. This team, however, would be able to load trucks in 30 minutes, on the average.

The other alternative is to hire three additional men who would comprise a second team. Now each of the two teams can load a truck in 36 minutes, and each team costs Generic $70/hour.

(a.) For each of the three scenarios, what are the values l and m and how many servers are there?

(b.) Now use the POM-QM software. In each of the three scenarios, what is the average number of trucks present at the loading dock? (Which symbol represents this figure?)

(c.) For each of the three scenarios, what are the average total costs that are generated? Which scenario is the overall least expensive one?