The diagram below represents a process where three components are made stations A1, A2, and A3 (one component is made at each station). These components are then assembled at Station B and moved through the rest of the process, where some additional work is completed at stations C and D. One and only one person is allowed to work at each station. The times given below for each station represent the amount of work that needs to be done at that station by that person, with no processing time variation. No inventory is allowed to build in the system. Station A1 3 minutes Station A2 Station B Station C 2 minutes 5 minutes 4 minutes Station D 1 minute Station A3 3 minutes e) What is the hourly throughput [output] of the process? Which station is the bottleneck? What does it mean for a station to be the bottleneck of a process? What is the flow time of a unit consisting of the three components? What is the cycle time of the process? What is the utilization rate of each worker? |Can a service company benefit from process analysis? Explain clearly why or why not