Northeast General, a large hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, has initiated a new procedure to ensure that patients receive their meals while the food is still as hot as possible. The hospital will continue to prepare the food in its kitchen but will now deliver it in bulk (not individual servings) to one of three new serving stations in the building. From there, the food will be reheated and meals will be placed on individual trays, loaded onto a cart, and distributed to the various floors and wings of the hospital. The three new serving stations are as efficiently located as possible to reach the various hallways in the hospital. The number of trays that each station can serve are indicated in the table:
LOCATION CAPACITY (MEALS)
Station 5A ......... 200
Station 3G ......... 225
Station 1S ........ 275
There are six wings to Northeast General that must be served. The number of patients in each follows:

The purpose of the new procedure is to increase the temperature of the hot meals that the patient receives. Therefore, the amount of time needed to deliver a tray from a serving station will determine the proper distribution of food from serving station to wing. The following table summarizes the time (minutes) associated with each possible distribution channel. What is your recommendation for handling the distribution of trays from the three servingstations?

Transcribed Image Text:

TO FROM Station 5A 12 Station 3G Station 1S WING i WING 2 WING 3 WING 4 WING 5 WING 6 6 12 6