1. A manufacturing company has a small production line dedicated to the production of aparticular product. The line has four stations in serial. Inputs arrive at station 1 and theoutput from station 1 becomes the input to station 2. The output from station 2 is the inputto station 3 and so on. The output from station 4 is the fi nished product. Station 1 canprocess 2,700 units per month, station 2 can process 2,500/month, station 3 can process2,300/month, and station 4 can process 2,100/month. What station sets the maximum possibleoutput from this system? What is that maximum output number?
4. You are in a line at the bank drive-through and 10 cars are in front of you. You estimatethat the clerk is taking about fi ve minutes per car to serve. How long do you expect to waitin line?
10. An enterprising student has set up an internship clearinghouse for business students. Eachstudent who uses the service fi lls out a form and lists up to 10 companies that he or shewould like to have contacted. The clearinghouse has a choice of two methods to use for processingthe forms. The traditional method requires about 20 minutes to review the form and
arrange the information in the proper order for processing. Once this setup is done, it takesonly two minutes per company requested to complete the processing. The other alternativeuses an optical scan/retrieve system, which takes only a minute to prepare but requires fi veminutes per company for completing the processing. If it costs about the same amount perminute for processing with either of the two methods, when should each be used?
11. Rockness Recycling refurbishes rundown business students. The process uses a movingbelt, which carries each student through the fi ve steps of the process in sequence. The fi vesteps are as follows:
Time Required
Step Description per Student
1 Unpack and place on belt 1.0 minute
2 Strip off bad habits 1.5 minutes
3 Scrub and clean mind 0.8 minute
4 Insert modern methods 1.0 minute
5 Polish and pack 1.2 minutesOne faculty member is assigned to each of these steps. Faculty members work a40-hour week and rotate jobs each week. Mr. Rockness has been working on a contractfrom General Eclectic, which requires delivery of 2,000 refurbished students perweek. A representative of the human resources department has just called complainingthat the company hasn't been receiving the agreed-upon number of students. A checkof fi nished goods inventory by Mr. Rockness reveals that there is no stock left. Whatis going on?
13. A local market research fi rm has just won a contract for several thousand small projects
involving data gathering and statistical analysis. In the past, the fi rm has assigned each
project to a single member of its highly trained professional staff. This person would bothgather and analyze the data. Using this approach, an experienced person can complete anaverage of 10 such projects in an eight-hour day.
The fi rm's management is thinking of assigning two people to each project in order toallow them to specialize and become more effi cient. The process would require the data290 section 2 MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE PROCESSESgatherer to fi ll out a matrix on the computer, check it, and transmit it to the statisticalanalysis program for the analyst to complete. Data can be gathered on one project whilethe analysis is being completed on another, but the analysis must be complete before thestatistical analysis program can accept the new data. After some practice, the new processcan be completed with a standard time of 20 minutes for the data gathering and 30 minutesfor the analysis.
a. What is the production (output per hour) for each alternative? What is the productivity(output per labor hour)?
b. How long would it take to complete 1,000 projects with each alternative? Whatwould be the labor content (total number of labor hours) for 1,000 projects for eachalternative?
18. I-mart is a discount optical shop that can fi ll most prescription orders in around 1 hour.The management is analyzing the processes at the store. There currently is one personassigned to each task below. The optometrist assigned to task B takes an hour off forlunch and the other employees work the entire day.Task Time
A. Greet/register the patient 2 minutes/patient
B. Optometrist conducts eye exam 25 minutes/patient
C. Frame/lenses selection 20 minutes/patient
D. Glasses made (process can run 6 pairs of
glasses at the same time) 60 minutes/patient
E. Final fi tting 5 minutes/patient
For a typical 10-hour retail day (10 a.m.-8 p.m.), the manager would like to calculate thefollowing:
a. What is the current maximum output of the process per day (assuming every patientrequires glasses)?
b. If another person were added, where would be the logical place?
c. What effect would a mail order lab (where the glasses are made off-site and returned in
5-7 days) have on the process?