Based on Zangwill XXXXXXXXXXHallco runs a day shift and a night shift. Regardless of the number of units produced, the only production cost during a shift is a setup cost. It costs $8000 to run the...

Based on Zangwill (1992). Hallco runs a day shift and a night shift. Regardless of the number of units produced, the only production cost during a shift is a setup cost. It costs $8000 to run the day shift and $4500 to run the night shift. Demand for the next two days is as follows: day 1, 2000; night 1, 3000; day 2, 2000; night 2, 3000. It costs $1 per unit to hold a unit in inventory for a shift.


a.   Determine a production schedule that minimizes the sum of setup and inventory costs. All demand must be met on time. (Note: Not all shifts have to be run.)


b.   After listening to a seminar on the virtues of the Japanese theory of production, Hallco has cut the setup cost of its day shift to $1000 per shift and the setup cost of its night shift to $3500 per shift. Now determine a production schedule that minimizes the sum of setup and inventory costs. All demand must be met on time. Show that the decrease in setup costs has actually raised the average inventory level. Is this reasonable?