Operations at Littlefield Labs $($Same as last year$)$

LL uses a fresh test kit with each new blood sample. After matching samples with kits, orders travel through the reentrant four step process described in Getting Started. The purchase price of any machine is $$30,000.$ The retirement price of any machine is $$10,000.$ It takes time for new capacity to be ordered and installed. New machines become operational $5$ days after they are paid for. Sold machines are retired as soon as they finish any work in process.

Since these machines are of new type, management does not have any information on capacities of these machines or the time each machine takes on working on an order. Once the lab starts operation, they will have access to machine utilization data, which they hope to use for finding machine capacities.

LL purchases raw material inventory with an automated policy of continuous review. Fresh test kits cost $$200$ each. A reliable supplier delivers the exact order quantity $24$ hours after an inventory order is placed. Orders cost $$500,$ plus the unit cost of any kits in that order. Management considers the physical cost of holding inventory to be negligible compared to the opportunity cost of interest that could have been earned by cash sunk into inventory. LL earns interest for cash held at a rate of $10\%$ per year, compounded daily. You will not be able to change the inventory policy.

Assignment

You begin managing the laboratory on Day $30.$ Historic data is available for review. For the next $335$ simulated days, you must buy or sell machines in order to maximize the lab's overall cash position. There is one preparer, one tester, and one centrifuge already in the laboratory. Your simulator will run at a rate of $4$ simulated d$$ys per real hour for a total playtime of $48$ hours. Your team would be actively managing the laboratory for $4**48=192$ simulated days. After $222$ simulated days $(30$ initial days $+192$ days over which you manage the laboratory$),$ the simulator will run on its own for another $143$ days. Therefore, you must leave the laboratory in a configuration so that it can run on its own for last $143$ simulated days without your supervision.

The only winning condition is having the most cash at game's end.