Line balancing
Rockness Recycling refurbishes rundown business students. The process uses a moving belt, which carries each student through the five steps of the process in sequence. The five steps are as follows:
STEP DESCRIPTION TIME REQUIRED 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 minutes
One faculty member is assigned to each of these steps. Faculty members work a 40-hour week and rotate jobs each week. Mr. Rockness has been working on a contract from General Electric, which requires delivery of 2,000 refurbished students per week.
A representative of the human resources department has just called complaining that the company hasn't been receiving the agreed-upon number of students. A check of finished goods inventory by Mr. Rockness reveals that there is no stock left.
What is going on?