1. A manufacturing company has a small production line dedicated to the production of a particular product. The line has four stations in serial. Inputs arrive at station I and the output from station 1 becomes the input to station 2. The output from station 2 is the input to station 3 and so on. The output from station 4 is the finished product. Station I can process 2,700 units per month, station 2 can process 2,500/month, station 3 can process 2,300/month, and station 4 can process 2,100/month. What station sets the maximum pos¬sible output from this system? What is that maximum output number?

2. You are in a line at the bank drive-through and 10 cars are in front of you. You estimate that the clerk is taking about five minutes per car to serve. How long do you expect to wait in line?

3. An enterprising student has set up an internship clearinghouse for business students. Each student who uses the service fills out a form and lists up to 10 companies that he or she would like to have contacted. The clearinghouse has a choice of two methods to use for pro¬cessing the 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 takes only two minutes per company requested to complete the processing. The other alternative uses an optical scan/retrieve system, which takes only a minute to prepare but requires five minutes per company for completing the processing. If it costs about the same amount per minute for processing with either of the two methods, when should each be used?

4. 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 con¬tract from General Eclectic, 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?

5. A local market research firm has just won a contract for several thousand small projects involving data gathering and statistical analysis. In the past, the firm has assigned each project to a single member of its highly trained professional staff. This person would both gather and analyze the data. Using this approach, an experienced person can complete an average of 10 such projects in an eight-hour day.

The firm's management is thinking of assigning two people to each project in order to allow them to specialize and become more efficient. The process would require the data gatherer to fill out a matrix on the computer, check it, and transmit it to the statistical analysis program for the analyst to complete. Data can be gathered on one project while the analysis is being completed on another, but the analysis must be complete before the statistical analysis program can accept the new data. After some practice, the new process can be completed with a standard time of 20 minutes for the data gathering and 30 min¬utes for the analysis.

What is the production (output per hour) for each alternative? What is the productivity (output per labor hour)?

a. How long would it take to complete 1,000 projects with each alternative? What would be the labor content (total number of labor hours) for 1,000 projects for each alternative?

6. 1-mart is a discount optical shop that can fill most prescription orders in around 1 hour. The management is analyzing the processes at the store. There currently is one person assigned to each task below. The optometrist assigned to task B takes an hour off for lunch and the other employees work the entire day.

TASK                                                                                                     Time
A Greet/register the patient                                                              2 minutes/patient
a Optometrist conducts eye exam                                                       25 minutes/patient
O. Framenenses selection                                                                   20 minutes/patient
D. Glasses made (process can run 6 pairs of glasses at the same time)        60 minutes/patient
E. Final fitting                                                                                    5 minutes/patient

For a typical 10-hour retail day (10 A.M.-8 P.m.), the manager would like to calculate the following:

a. What is the current maximum output of the process per day (assuming every patient requires 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?