Question 8: Best B Builders II

Now you plan to make a letter B by yourself. The stages to make a B should be (in this order) A: Bend a small straight piece to U form, B: Bend another small straight piece to U form, C: Make a strong straight base piece, D: Attach the two smaller U pieces to the base piece to creat a B. Assume the following amount of work in seconds is required at each station: A: 30 secs, B: 27 secs, C: 46 secs, and D: 60 secs. Furthermore, assume three class mates come over, and each of you is assigned to exactly one task (A-D). (Assume you want to make many Bs, i.e., perform the calculations for a continuous process.)

Part h: 4 points

What is the new bottleneck stage? A, B, C, or D?

Part i: 4 points

What is the new capacity rate of your process (Bs per hour)?

Part j: 4 points

What is the new cycle time of your process (secs)?

Part k: 6 points

What is the average utilization of your resources now (in %)?