Roberts Auto Sales and Service (RASAS) consists of three car dealerships that sell and service several makes of American and Japanese cars, two auto parts stores, a large body shop and car painting business, and an auto salvage yard. Vicky Roberts, owner of RASAS, went into the car business when she inherited a Ford dealership from her father. She was able to capitalize on her knowledge and experience to build her business into the diversified and successful miniempire it is today. Her motto, "Sell 'em today, repair 'em tomorrow!" reflects a strategy that she refers to in private as "Get 'em coming and going." Roberts has always retained a soft spot in her heart for high-performance Mustangs and just acquired a 1965 Shelby Mustang GT 350 that needs a lot of restoration. She also notes the public's growing interest in the restoration of vintage automobiles. Roberts is thinking of expanding into the vintage car restoration business and needs help in assessing the feasibility of such a move. She wants to restore her 1965 Shelby Mustang to mint condition, or as close to mint condition as possible. If she decides to go into the car restoring business, she can use the Mustang as an exhibit in sales and advertising and take it to auto shows to attract business for the new shop. Roberts believes that many people want the thrill of restoring an old car themselves, but they do not have the time to run down all the old parts. Still, others just want to own a vintage auto because it is different and many of them have plenty of money to pay someone to restore an auto for them. Roberts wants the new business to appeal to both types of people. For the first group, she envisions serving as a parts broker for NOS ("new old stock"), new parts that were manufactured many years ago and are still packaged in their original cartons. It can be a time-consuming process to find the right part. RASAS could also machine new parts to replicate those that are hard to find or that no longer exist. In addition, RASAS could assemble a library of parts and body manuals for old cars to serve as an information resource for do-it-yourself restorers. The do-it-yourselfers could come to RASAS for help in compiling parts lists, and RASAS could acquire the parts for them. For others, RASAS would take charge of the entire restoration. Roberts asked the director of service operations to take a good look at her Mustang and determine what needs to be done to restore it to the condition it was in when it came from the factory more than 50 years ago. She  wants to restore this car in time to exhibit it at the Detroit Auto Show. If the car gets a lot of press, it will be a real public relations coup for RASAS—especially  if Roberts decides to enter this new venture. Even if she does not, the car will be a showpiece for the rest of the business. Roberts asked the director of service operations to prepare a report about what is involved in restoring the car and whether it can be done in time for theDetroit show in 45 working days using PERT/CPM. The parts manager, the  body shop manager, and the chief mechanic have provided the following estimates  of times and activities that need to be done, as well as cost estimates.

QUESTIONS
1. Using the information provided, prepare the report that Vicky Roberts  requested, assuming that the project will begin immediately. Assume 45  working days are available to complete the project, including transporting  the car to Detroit before the auto show begins. Your report should  briefly discuss the aspects of the proposed new business, such as the  competitive priorities that Roberts asked about.
2. Construct a table containing the project activities using the letter  assigned to each activity, the time estimates, and the precedence relationships  from which you will assemble the network diagram.
3. Draw a network diagram of the project similar to Figure 7.3. Determine  the activities on the critical path and the estimated slack for each activity.
4. Prepare a project budget showing the cost of each activity and the total  for the project. Can the project be completed within the budget? Will the  project require more than $3,600 in any week? To answer this question,  assume that activities B, C, and D must be paid for when the item is received (the earliest finish time for the activity). Assume that the costs of all other activities that span more than 1 week can be prorated.Each week contains 5 workdays. If problems exist, how might Robertsovercome them?