re asked to prepare an internal memo with specific deliverables.

Introduction

Ray Tanaka has been working for Eco$-$Jet, a regional air line, for the last six

years. Ray started as a ticket agent in the customer check$-$in area, and has held

several other positions at various airports. He is presently working as a senior

customer service associate at Newark airport. He is a keen observer and has a

good track record as an employee of Eco$-$Jet.

In addition to working for Eco$-$Jet, Ray has been taking on$-$line MBA courses.

Ray found the Operations Management course to be most informative and

enjoyable. He has just completed the MBA program, and he is interested in

being transferred to a more responsible position commensurate with his

education and experience. Ray expressed his interest to David Malone, the

human resource manager of Eco$-$Jet.

Deregulation of airlines has had a devastating effect on the bottom line of many

major carriers. Many national and international airlines have declared

bankruptcy and are in the process of curtailing services. However, Eco$-$Jet is a

low cost regional carrier that has been experiencing a dramatic growth during the

same time period. At the present time, Eco$-$Jet operates more than $700$ flights

every day within the northeastern part of the country.

Patricia Dolan is the vice$-$president of airline operations at Eco$-$Jet. She is well

regarded as a senior executive in the firm, and is known for running effective and

efficient operations. She has an MBA from The Kelley School of Business with a

concentration in operations management. Patricia would love to use various

tools available to operations managers, but she does not have the time to do the

detailed work on her own.

During a management meeting, David Malone was talking to Patricia Dolan and

he mentioned Ray$$s interest in the operations area. Patricia was not quite sure

whether Ray can handle sophisticated analytical work required in the operations

area. However, she agreed to meet with Ray for an interview. Here are some

excerpts from the interview.

Patricia: I am impressed with your diligence in pursuing an MBA program, while

working all kinds of hours for Eco$-$Jet.

Ray: I would not have been able to complete this program in a conventional

school, but the online format gave me the flexibility to work from home at any

time of the day.

Patricia: David was telling me that you have a lot of interest in the operations

area. Do you feel comfortable in using various techniques such as PERT$/$CPM

and statistical control charts?

Ray: We used these techniques throughout the course to work on several case

studies. My term project involved the use of software to solve several real life

problems.

Patricia: You have been at Eco$-$Jet long enough to know that we run a very tight

ship and we cannot afford to add unnecessarily to the overhead. I have often

thought about hiring someone to help me with all different technical tasks,

however, I do not have time to train a new person about operations. You have

the knowledge of our operations and I would not need to spend too much time in

giving you directions. Right!!

Ray: Sure!! I am a quick learner. Just tell me what needs to be done and I will

get it done.

Patricia: Okay. Let us give it a try. I have several action items which need to be

taken care of in a week. As you know that we are adding more flights in Newark,

and we need to refurbish the passenger waiting area at the new gates. I have

selected three acceptable vendors and my assistant Sarah has prepared a

summary of the proposals. I have not had time to evaluate these three

proposals. Could you please do a quick evaluation for me$?$

Appendix $1$

Ray: Do we need to look at other factors aside from costs to select among these

vendors?

Patricia: No$,$ we just want to look at the costs. All three are reputable and

responsive vendors. Sarah$$s summary also has our forecast for the number of

passengers to be handled at these gates.

Appendix $2<$ Passenger Forecasts$>$

The second thing I would like you to do is to develop a project management plan

for completing the new gate areas. Based on our prior experience with such

projects, we have developed a work breakdown structure. Sarah has a copy of

it$.$ What are our chances of getting the whole job done in about two months?

Appendix $3$

Ray: I will use a CPM technique to develop the plan.

Patricia: That sounds great. We will be using the new gates starting from $6$ AM

to $10$ PM every day of the week. As you know, all our employees work two

shifts, morning shift from $6$ AM to $2$ PM and the afternoon shift from $2$ PM to $10$

PM$.$ I need to tell David about the number of new customer service people we

need to hire for the additional gates. I promised to get back to him in a week.

Ray: From the passenger forecast, I can use our regular rule of one agent for

every hundred passengers. I will also make sure that every employ