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Managing Linen at Apollo Hospitals-Group 8

The document summarizes a case study on managing linen at Apollo Hospitals in Bangalore. It discusses: 1) Decision variables for the linen management problem including number of sheets/covers purchased, washed, discarded on each day. 2) A mathematical model to minimize total linen costs subject to constraints like linen availability and safety stock maintenance. 3) An analysis showing converting discarded sheets to covers is not currently cost-effective. 4) Calculating the average linen life and modifying the model to track washes and discard after a certain life. 5) Limitations of assuming constants and not accounting for variability, and how tracking washes could help modify the model.

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Swadhin Swadesh
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230 views4 pages

Managing Linen at Apollo Hospitals-Group 8

The document summarizes a case study on managing linen at Apollo Hospitals in Bangalore. It discusses: 1) Decision variables for the linen management problem including number of sheets/covers purchased, washed, discarded on each day. 2) A mathematical model to minimize total linen costs subject to constraints like linen availability and safety stock maintenance. 3) An analysis showing converting discarded sheets to covers is not currently cost-effective. 4) Calculating the average linen life and modifying the model to track washes and discard after a certain life. 5) Limitations of assuming constants and not accounting for variability, and how tracking washes could help modify the model.

Uploaded by

Swadhin Swadesh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Submitted by

Sumit Sahu – PGPBL/04/053


Swadhin Swadesh –PGPBL/04/055

Managing Linen at Apollo Hospitals

Brief of Case:
Apollo Hospitals Bangalore which has been a tertiary care flagship unit of Apollo
hospitals group is facing a issue of managing linen used in hospitals. The cost of
managing linen was around INR 5.1 million per annum. Major concerns were, due to
heavy stains self life of linen was decreased to 50% and it was difficult to track the
number of wash for each linen. Dr. Rao wants to solve this issue using analytical
approach.

1. Decision Variables for Linen Management Problem


For Dr. Ananth N. Rao to solve the linen management problem, the decision variables would
typically include:
 Xt: The number of new bed sheets to purchase on day t
 Yt: The number of new pillow covers to purchase on day t
 Wt: The number of bed sheets to wash on day t
 Zt: The number of pillow covers to wash on day t
 Dt: The number of discarded bed sheets on day t that can be converted into pillow
covers
 St: The number of bed sheets in safety stock on day t
 Pt: The number of pillow covers in safety stock on day t
 It: The number of bed sheets in laundry on day t
 Qt: The number of pillow covers in laundry on day t

2. Mathematical Programming Model


To minimize the total cost of linen management, we need to construct a model that
minimizes the cost of purchasing new linen, washing the used linen, and possibly the cost of
converting discarded bed sheets into pillow covers. The model will also need to consider
and accommodate the requirements for maintaining a safety stock and the need for linen
based on occupancy rates.
The objective function and constraints could look like:
Objective Function:
Minimize Total Cost =∑(Cbs*Xt+Cpc*Yt+Cwbs⋅Wt+Cwpc⋅Zt+Cconv⋅Dt)=∑(Cbs⋅xt+Cpc⋅yt+Cwbs
⋅wt+Cwpc⋅zt+Cconv⋅dt)
Where:
 Cbs = Cost of buying a new bed sheet.
 Cpc = Cost of buying a new pillow cover.
 Cwbs = Cost of washing a bed sheet.
 Cwpc = Cost of washing a pillow cover.

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 Cconv = Cost of converting bed sheets into pillow
covers. Constraints:
1. Linen Availability: St+Xt−Dt−1≥ Required Linen based on occupancy
2. Safety Stock Maintenance: St ≥ Safety stock requirement
3. Laundry Cycle: Lt+2=Wt
4. Discards and Conversion: Dt≤Discards Available
5. Non-Negativity and Integer Constraints: Xt,Yt,Wt,Zt,Dt,St,Pt,Lt,Qt≥0 and integers

2
The model would be more complex in practice, considering factors such as the lead time for
purchasing new linen, the time it takes to convert discarded bed sheets into pillow covers,
and the dynamic demand based on hospital occupancy.

3. Cost-Effectiveness of Converting Bed Sheets into Pillow Covers

To analyse this, we need to calculate the cost saved by converting bed sheets into pillow
covers and compare it with the cost of employing a tailor.
Given:
 Cost of a tailor: INR 20,000
 Cost of a new pillow cover: INR 64.35
 Conversion rate: 0.28% of used linen discarded every day, 40% of which are
converted into pillow covers.
We would need to calculate the total number of pillow covers produced from discarded bed
sheets and the corresponding cost savings. If the cost savings exceed the tailor's cost, the
decision is cost-effective.

The calculations show that with the given data, the hospital converts approximately 8.4 bed
sheets into pillow covers per month, resulting in a cost saving of INR 540.54. However, since
the cost of employing a tailor is INR 20,000, the net effect is a loss of INR 19,459.46.
Therefore, under the given conditions, the decision to convert bed sheets into pillow covers
is not cost- effective.

4. Average Life of Linen and Modified Formulation

We need to calculate the expected life of linen given the proportion of heavy wash and
regular wash.
Given:
 20% of used linen goes through a heavy wash (45 washes life).
 80% of used linen goes through a regular wash (70 washes
life). The expected life of linen (E) can be calculated as:
E=0.20×45+0.80×70
To incorporate this into the mathematical model, we would add additional constraints to
track the number of washes for each linen item and discard it once it reaches its maximum
number of wash cycles.

3
5. Limitations of the Model and Handling Them

Some limitations of the model could include:


 The model assumes certain constants (like washing cost, purchase cost, etc.), which
in reality could fluctuate.
 The model doesn't account for emergency situations or sudden spikes in hospital
occupancy.
 The usage rate of linen could change, and the model doesn't account for variability in
the patient or procedure types.
 The model assumes that all linen items have the same life cycle, which may not be
true.
For the second part of task 4, to modify the mathematical model, we would need to
implement a tracking system for the number of washes each linen item has undergone.
However, since this tracking is not currently in place at Apollo Hospital, the model would
have to be hypothetical. It would include a decision variable for the number of washes and
constraints to ensure that linen is discarded after reaching the average life of 65 washes.

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