1. . Consider a CONWIP flow line with 3 stations in series (1 2 3); each station consists of one machine and every unit has to flow through all three stations before it is completed. The unit processing times at the three stations are 4.8 hours, 2.1 hours, and 3.6 hours, respectively. (Aside: how would you estimate average processing time at station 1 for your Littlefield game?) There are 24 working hours in a day, and 5 working days per week. Currently there is a single machine at each station and the current demand is 3 units per day. Demand is expected to grow in the future and then stabilize; peak demand is estimated to be 11 units per day. Answer the following questions using the data specified.

1. ) By definition, station implied utilization = demand rate / station capacity, where station capacity is measured in terms of its production rate. Clearly as demand rate increases, implied utilization increases and can exceed 100% for high enough demand rate. In such cases when implied utilization exceeds 100%, we have insufficient station capacity and one way to rectify this is to increase station capacity by adding machines to a station. Suppose your goal is to keep implied utilization under 100% at all stations[1]. Answer the following two questions: (i) How many machines will be needed at stations 1, 2, and 3, to meet the peak demand? (ii) If WIP is managed so that it averages w = 10 units (this is the CONWIP level), compute the practical worst case cycle time for the line under peak demand, with your chosen of number of machines at stations 1, 2, and 3.