Consider a four-station line in which all stations consist of single machines. Station 2 has average processing times of two hours per job, while the remaining stations have average processing times of one hour per job. Answer the following, under the assumption that the process times are exponentially distributes (as in the practical worst case ).

a. What are r_b , T_o , and W_o for this line?

b. How do r_b , T_o , and W_o change if a second identical machine is added to station 2? What effects will this have on performance?

c. How do r_b , T_o , and W_o change if the machine at station 2 is speeded up to have average processing times of one hour? What effects will this have on performance?

d. How do r_b , T_o , and W_o change if a second identical machine is added to station I? What effects will this have on performance?

e. How do r_b , T_o , and W_o change if the machine at station 1 is speeded up to have average processing times of one-half hour? What effects will this have on performance? Do your results agree or disagree with the statement An hour saved at a nonbottleneck is a mirage (i.e., of no value) ?