The process to build a special type of coffee table follows four steps, required to be performed in sequence. The steps, relevant production rates, and number of workers available are as shown in the table below. Assume that workers are not shared between operations.

Operation

Production time or rate (per worker)

Workers Available

Cutting

2 tables per minute

1 worker

Sanding

12 minutes per table

2 workers

Assembly

3 tables per hour

3 workers

Finishing

8 tables per hour

2 workers

Assume that the bottleneck operation is identified and a worker is added to that operation. What will be the new capacity of the system (in tables/hour) after the additional worker is added to the bottleneck operation?

a.

9 tables/hour

b.

10 tables/hour

c.

12 tables/hour

d.

16 tables/hour

e.

More than 100 tables/hour