Question: A process has a bottleneck resource that consists of specialized equipment. Jobs arrive to this machine at a rate of 40 per hour (according to a Poisson arrival process). The processing times average 1 min and are exponentially distributed. Compare the performance (e.g., average cycle time through the bottleneck) of the current process with the following alternatives:
a. Add a second identical machine in the bottleneck.
b. Replace the current machine with one that is twice as fast.