EMG, Inc. produces painted metal parts cut from sheet metal. All units are alike, and all pass

Question:

EMG, Inc. produces painted metal parts cut from sheet metal. All units are alike, and all pass through the following sequence of operations:

Every unit is inspected in the Inspection operation, and defective units are removed immediately. During routine production, defective units are not identified in any operation other than Inspection. The company tests samples of work done in each operation at randomly selected times each month. The sampling results from the most recent 12 months are used to calculate the defect rate for each operation. All operations' defect rates have been very stable in recent years and are among the lowest in the industry. Nearly a decade ago, the company's quality-improvement efforts virtually eliminated the creation of defects in several of the operations, as the data show.
Raw materials costs total $14 for each good unit produced. Additional material required for packaging costs $1 for each unit and is included in Other Conversion Cost for Packaging. The sales price is currently $45 per unit. There is a backlog of orders and new orders are received continually, so the company expects to be able to sell all it can produce for the next few months. The company owns its delivery trucks and employs full-time drivers.
Required:
(1) Calculate throughput per unit.
(2) Calculate the maximum throughput attainable per month if every operation is capable of running at capacity.
(3) Based on the data given, which operations is the tightest constraint on throughput?