Programming Assignment #2: Simulating the Cafeteria

You and your team have been given the task of simulating the cafeteria in the Student Center so that improvements can be explored. Your team can consist of up to 4 members, and must consist of at least 2 members. (Solo assignments will not be accepted.)

Here are the constraints:

• Your focus is on the flow of students between 11 and 2. Every five minutes, assume that 50 students enter the cafeteria (normal distribution, standard deviation of 5). (It's actually higher around noon, and lower between 1 and 2, but that's a reasonable middle ground.)
• 40% of the students will stop for a salad, which usually takes them 4 minutes to make (normal distribution, std of 2).
• 30% of the students will stop for a sandwich. You can have up to three sandwich lines going, and it takes one staff member per line. Time to order and make a sandwich is three minutes.
• 60% of the students will order one or more items (up to three items) from the hot food line. Of those ordering hot foods, 60% get just the entre', 20% get the three-item veggie plate, and 20% get entree and two veggies. Once someone serves you in the hot food line, it takes 1 minute to get one item, 1 minute and 15 seconds to get two items, and 1 minute and 45 seconds to get three items. You can have at most three people in the hot food line.
• 15% of the students get something from the tacos-and-such bar. Time to order and receive the order is two minutes (normal, std. of 15 seconds). You can have at most two people here.
• 30% of the students will get something from the grill area, which takes only 30 seconds to get an item.
• 20% of the students will get something from the Chick-Fil-A area, which also only takes 30 seconds to get an item.
• 80% of the students will get a drink. There are three drink stations, and it takes students about 45 seconds to get a drink.
• At most, you can have four cashiers working. It takes a cashier 10 seconds to ring up anything, and 5 seconds per item after that (so, 15 seconds for one item, 20 seconds for two items, etc.). Every drink, salad, multiple items from the hot foods, etc. is an item.
• You must have someone stocking the salad bar, the grill area, and the drink stations. You can place people in the hot food line, the sandwich line, the taco line, or as a cashier. You have 10 staff.

You are to create a simulation of the cafeteria. Your goal is to get the maximum number of students through the cafeteria in the minimum amount of time. Your simulation must show (a) the number of students processed in a three hour run between 11 and 2 and (b) the histogram of how long it took the students to get through. You can place staff wherever you want, within the constraints given above. You must run at least two runs! Try two different staff placements and see which is better.

Bonus! Five additional points will be awarded in each section to the team with the maximum students through in the lowest average time per student.

ADDITIONAL CONSTRAINT: Your team must submit via email before class each Friday a Team Facilitation (at http://chmsr.isye.gatech.edu/cgi-bin/TeamFacilitator/login.cgi) status report. I will get you feedback by the following Monday on how your team is going. 10% of your grade will be turning in these reports each week. 40% of your grade will be on execution of the code, and 50% on the design documentation. (Please note in the design documentation that a Reuse section is not needed for this assignment. Instead, tell me the results of the two runs in a Data and Analysis section.)

You will need the Simulation package for this problem. Be sure to look over Simulation Overheads, Part 1 and Simulation Overheads, Part 2.

Due November 27.

Discuss P2 in CaMILE.