Question: A commercial bakery wants to evaluate its capacity by determining the number of pounds of bread it can produce per hour. In the mixing stage, all the ingredients are combined to form the dough. The dough must then rise in a controlled environment called a proofing box, which monitors humidity and temperature. Following the proofing, the bread is formed into loaves and baked. In the final stage, the bread is packaged prior to distribution to retail outlets. The bakery currently has the following equipment
| Stage |
Capacity (pounds per hour per machine) |
Number of machines |
| Mixing |
60 |
3 |
| Proofing |
25 |
6 |
| Baking |
40 |
4 |
| Packaging |
75 |
3 |
A) Which stage is the bottleneck of the process?
B) What is the process capacity, measured by pounds of bread per day? Assume a 10-hour day.
C) If an additional piece of equipment is purchased to increase the capacity of the bottleneck, what is the new capacity of the bakery?