Upjohn Job Report: GPSS Simulation of Credit and Collection Department

Abstract

During the fall quarter, 1981, I served as an intern in the Management Science unit of the Information Management Services Division of The Upjohn Company in Portage, Michigan. Within the structure of The Upjohn Company, the Management Science unit serves as a consultant to other units. It is a unit to which other branches of company operations bring problems they cannot solve. Thus, Management Science handles a large number of problems which vary greatly in nature and complexity. This unit also carries out research concerning efficiency of company operations. This research is often based on computer simulation techniques and is aimed at finding optimal points of efficiency versus cost. My project falls into this category of research. The credit and collection department of The Upjohn Company handles the actual selling of products and collecting of cash. Because of the impracticality of experimentation with the variables in the actual credit policy, this department is in need of a vehicle to predict the results of possible policy changes in the system. The model developed in this project is the basis for such a vehicle. The project is not to be perceived as an end in itself. As indicated in the following memo, it is merely a beginning upon which numerous types of research can be based in the future.