Q2: Patent Applications (Rate and Capacity) A law firm develops patent applications in a four-step process. In the first step, the legal assistant gathers and reviews technical paperwork from the client, which takes 1 hour and 30 minutes on average per client. In the second step, all required documents are completed, printed, and compiled into an application package by an associate, to be shared with the client. Because much of this work is automated, it can be completed in exactly 4 hours. In the third step, the application is sent electronically to the U.S. Patent Office for a cursory review. They guarantee a 48-hour return time. In the final step, a partner of the firm meets with the client to review the application, make minor adjustments, and obtain the client's signature, as needed. This takes 45 minutes. The firm has experienced significant demand in the past year, so they have 10 legal assistants taking data from the clients, 20 associates completing the documentation, and 4 partners meeting with clients. a) Draw the process flowchart. Determine capacity of each resource. What is the capacity of the process? b) What is the minimum time it will take to get a patent document completed with this (i.e., assuming there is no wait in between processes)? process c) Suppose you wanted to increase the capacity of the system by 50% from the level you determined in part (a). What type of workers do you need to hire? How many additional workers do you need? d) Based on the capacity of the resources you computed in part (a), would there be any benefit in cross-training the legal assistants who are presently taking data from the clients to also perform the associates' function? Any benefit to cross-training the partners to perform the associates' function?