8. Demand at the Wonder Widget Company (W2C) has recently decreased due to the economic slowdown. In
Question:
8. Demand at the Wonder Widget Company (W2C) has recently decreased due to the economic slowdown. In response, the managers of W2C have shut down one of their production lines. However, management is concerned about how long it would take to restart the line when (and if) demand increases. They have come to you for help.
After completing a careful study of the production process, you have determined from your work breakdown structure that there are ten distinct tasks that must be completed before the line can be restarted. These tasks are indicated below, along with their estimated duration (in days). Each task is represented by a unique identifying letter and by its starting and ending event numbers, which also indicate precedence.
Event 1 is the starting event; event 10 is the ending event.
Task ID Event Numbers Duration (Days)
Using this information, answer the following questions:
a. If all tasks begin as early as possible, how much slack will remain for each task?
If each task begins as late as possible, how much slack time will remain for each task? How much slack is associated with each task that is independent of any delays in the other tasks?
b. Formulate and solve a linear programming model to find the critical path and he slack values. Compare your answer to the results found in part (a).
c. How much does the duration of task D have to increase in order to change
(i) the early start time of D?
(ii) the early start time of I?
(iii) the earliest possible completion time of the project?
d. The production manager feels that you have made an error and that task C should be a predecessor to activity F.
(i) Which activity will have their earliest start times changed? By how much?
(ii) Which activities will have their latest start times changed? By how much?
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