The Electrical Maintenance Department (EMD) of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) is responsible for the electrical maintenance of all hostels on campus. At present, EMD activity is outsourced to Chintamani Electrical on an annual contract. The latter puts up its resources to operate EMD. The EMD supervisor Vijay Bhogale is concerned about the productivity of the electricians because his boss, the owner of Chintamani Electrical, has pushed him several times to improve it.

This case on electrical maintenance of IIT Bombay hostels explains the functioning of EMD along with relevant data to apply operations management techniques such as simulation and capacity analysis. The first step for using these techniques is to understand the situation by mapping its processes; hence, the initial part of the case throws light on this. The latter part of the case emphasizes relevant and precise data collection to apply the appropriate operations management technique. This case creates a stimulating environment for class discussion on key data, the underlying notion in the application of simulation and/or queuing model for a given situation.