Charles Watts Electronics
Charles Watts Electronics manufactures the following six peripheral devices used in computers especially designed for jet fighter planes: internal modems, external modems, graphics circuit boards, jump drives, hard disk drives, and memory expansion boards. Each of these technical products requires time, in minutes, on three types of electronic testing equipment as shown in the following table:
Internal Modem | External Modem | Circuit Board | Jump Drives | Hard Drives | Memo Boards | |
Test device I | 7 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 17 |
Test device 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 17 |
Test device 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
The first two test devices are available 120 hours per week. The third (device 3) requires more preventive maintenance and may be used only 100 hours each week. The market for all six computer components is vast, and Watts Electronics believes that it can sell as many units of each product as it can manufacture. The table at the top of the next column summarizes the revenues and material costs or each product.
Device | Revenue per | Material Cost |
Internal modem | 200 | 35 |
External modem | 120 | 25 |
Graphics circuit board | 180 | 40 |
Jump drive | 130 | 45 |
Hard disk drive | 430 | 170 |
Memory expansion board | 260 | so |
In addition, variable labor costs me $15 per hour for test device 1, $12 per hour for test device 2, and $18 per hour for test device 3. Watts Electronics wants to maximize its profits.
a) Formulate this problem as an LP model.
b) Solve the problem by computer. What is the best product mix? cl What is the value of an additional minute of time per week on test device 1? test device 2? test device 3? Should Watts Electronics add more test device time? If so, on which equipment?