A home insurance company receives 100 applications per day. The applications consist of two forms: F1, which relates to the home owner, and F2, which relates to the property. On receipt, each application is processed, recorded, and separated into F1 and F2 (this is the initial review step (IR)). On average, 60% are categorized as F1 and the rest are F2. The initial review team (IR) has 20 applications in process at any time. Two independent teams process F1 and F2 applications. At any time, 30 F1 applications are with the F1 team and 50 are with the F2 team. Typically, 80% of all F1s and 50% of all F2s are approved on review. Assume the process is stable (incoming rate = outgoing rate)
a) What is the average flow time for the entire system?
b) What is the average flow time for F1 applications? (include initial review time)
c) What is the average flow time for F2 applications? (include initial review time)
d) What is the average flow time for approved applications?
e) If the company wants to cut the flow time by half, what can they possibly do to achieve that?