Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

8-2010

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Industrial Engineering

Committee Chair

Biles, William E.

Author's Keywords

Block diagramming; Speed rails; Quadratic assignment problem; Maximizing efficiency of speed rail

Subject

Bartending--Technological innovations; Block diagrams; Quadratic assignment problem

Abstract

Typically bartenders will arrange liquor bottles in a bar based on their own preferences. This research project describes an alternative way to arrange the bottles on the speed rail more efficiently. This will allow bartenders to make drinks quicker and easier. The objective of this study is to develop some sort of heuristic using block diagramming to make every speed rail more efficient. For this project three different bars' speed rails were observed. The factors considered were the top 20 selling mixed drinks at each bar and their current speed rail setup. A generalized heuristic was used to evaluate the speed rail and make changes to try and increase its efficiency. A block diagram of each speed rail was made to keep track of the progress along the way. Linear programming and a real life example were used in this project to show that block diagramming truly made these speed rails more efficient. In the real life example each of the top 20 selling drinks was made and timed using the existing speed rail layout and then timed again using the new proposed layout. A quadratic assignment problem from linear programming was used to show that the layouts found using block diagramming were good answers.

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