1 What type of process flow structure is CBF using? CBF has hired you to help determine why they are not able to pro- duce the 1,000 boards per day. Circuit Board Fabricators, Inc. (CBF), is a small manufacturer of circuit boards located in California near San Jose. Companies such as Apple Computer and Hewlett-Packard use the company to make boards for prototypes of new products. It is important that CBF give quick and very-high-quality service. The engineers working on the new products are on a tight schedule and have little patience with sloppy work or missing delivery dates. Circuit boards are a rigid flat surface where electronic compo- nents are mounted. Electronic components such as integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, and diodes are soldered to the boards. Lines called "traces" are etched on the board and electronically connect the components. Since the electronic traces cannot cross, holes through the circuit board are used to connect traces on both sides of the boards, thus allowing complex circuits to be implemented. These boards often are designed with 40-50 components that are connected through hundreds of traces on a small four-by six-inch board. CBF has developed a good business plan. They have four standard- size board configurations and have automated much of their process for making these standard boards. Fabricating the boards requires CBF's numerically controlled (NC) equipment to be programmed. This is largely an automated process that works directly from engi- neering drawings that are formatted using industry standard codes. Currently, the typical order is for 60 boards. Engineers at cus- tomer companies prepare a computer-aided design (CAD) drawing of the board. This CAD drawing precisely specifies each circuit trace, circuit pass-through holes, and component mounting points on the board. An electronic version of the drawing is used by a CBF process engineer to program the NC machines used to fabricate the boards.