Food Goblin Supermarkets use both cashiers and baggers to serve customers at check out. During the first 6 hours of each workday (Monday–Friday), 4 cashiers and 2 baggers serve approximately 20 customers per hour. A cashier and a bagger who require approximately 5 minutes at checkout and 5 minutes at bagging serve each customer.
a. Calculate the utilization of both cashiers and baggers.
b. Assume that both baggers and cashiers are cross-trained to perform both activities so that they can serve customers independently. Customers are now both checked and their groceries bagged by one individual. Further, assume that it takes 12 minutes for one individual to both cash out and bag each customer’s groceries. Calculate the utilization of this new group of 6 cross-trained employees.