A loan application process involves 8 separate tasks. Task A takes 10 minutes and does not require any other of the tasks to be performed before it can be started. Similarly, Task B can be started without any other task being completed and takes 8 minutes. Task C takes 16 minutes and cannot be performed until Task A has been done. Task D cannot be done until both A and B have been performed and takes 8 minutes. Task E requires tasks C and D to be finished and takes 8 minutes. After task E has been performed, Tasks F and G. taking respectively 5 and 17 minutes, can be performed. Finally (but only after Tasks F and G have been performed), Task H can be performed and takes 11 minutes. Devise a precedence diagram for this process, and, assuming a required cycle time of 18 minutes, determine how many people will be required to perform the task, and if they are arranged in a 'product' layout, how the tasks will be allocated to each person. Calculate the balancing loss for this layout.

Task A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O Time (sec) Predecessor 10 28 13 12 30 40 30 21 22 12 16 18 20 40 30 A A A A B B,C D,E E O O J,K L M F,G,H,I