They are a good crew, Mike. And of course, you know that you don$$t have to delay on starting the packaging segment of this project. You can start developing the packaging concept $($e$)$ just as soon as the product rationale has been developed. If my experience is any judge, it will take a full eight weeks; you$$ll have to work to keep the process from running forever.$$But as soon as that is finished we can start on the design of the package and its materials $($f$),$ which usually takes about six weeks. Once that is done we can start developing the packaging system $($h$),$ which shouldn$$t take longer than eight weeks,$$ concluded Mike. At this point he realized that although Docent would have general knowledge, he needed to talk directly to the director of manufacturing. $$The first step, which follows the completion of the development of processing and packaging systems,$$ said the director of manufacturing, $$is to do a complete study of the facilities and equipment requirements $($i$).$ You won$$t be able to get that done in less than four weeks. And that must precede the preparation of the capital equipment list $($j$)$ which should take about three$$quarters as long. Of course, as soon as the development of both the process system and packaging system are completed, you could start on preparing the written manufacturing facilities procedures $($q$).$But$,$ said Mike, $$can I really finish the procedures before I have installed the manufacturing facilities $($p$)?$No$,$ quite right. What you can do is get the first phase done, but the last three of the ten weeks it will take to do that will have to wait for the installation of the manufacturing facilities.$$Then this means that I really have two phases for the writing, that which can be completed without the manufacturing facilities installation $($q$),$ and that which has to wait for them $($q$).$True$.$ Now you realize that the last thing you have to do after completing the procedures and installing the equipment and facilities is to run a pilot test $($r$)$ which will show that you have reached a satisfactory level?$$Yes$.$ Since that must include debugging, I$$ve estimated a six$$week period as adequate.$$ The director of manufacturing assented. Mike continued, $$What I$$m not sure of is whether we can run all the installation tasks in parallel.$$You can let the purchase orders and carry out the procurement of process equipment $($k$),$ packaging equipment $($l$),$ and facilities $($m$)$ as soon as the capital equipment list is complete. The installation of each of these types of equipment and facilities can start as soon as the goods are on hand $($n$,$ o$,$ p$).$What do you estimate for the times to do these tasks?$$ asked Mike. The director of manufacturing estimated $18,8,$ and $4$ weeks for the purchasing phases for each of the subsystems in that order and four weeks for each of the installations. $$Then I can regard my job as done with the delivery of the procedures and when I show my $95$ percent yield,$$ said Mike, and the director of manufacturing agreed, but reminded Mike that none of the purchasing cycles could start until the capital equipment list had been prepared and approved $($j$)$ which he saw as a three$$week task. The executive committee of D$.$ U$.$ Singer Hospital Products Corporation set a starting date for the project of March $10$ and asked Mike to project a completion date with his submission of the plan. The committee$$s request implied that whatever date Mike came up with was acceptable, but Mike knew that he would be expected to show how to shorten the time to complete the project. However, his task in making the schedule was clear; he had to establish the resource requirements and deal with calendar constraints as best as he could. To this end, Mike had to get an estimate of resources, which he decided to do by making a list of the activities and asking each group involved what was their level of employee input. The results of this survey are shown in Exhibit $1.$ For example, activity a takes $8$ weeks and requires $12$ worker$$weeks from R&D$,$ or an average of $1\mathrm{.}5$ workers for the entire $8$week duration of activity a$.$ For the purposes of overall planning, the accounting department told Mike that he could estimate a cost of $$600$ per week per employee. This would enable him to provide a cash flow forecast along with his plan, which the chief accountant said would be expected, something that Mike had not realized. Mike knew that it was customary at D$.$ U$.$ Singer to provide the following as parts of a plan to be submitted to the executive committee: Statement of objectives Work breakdown structure An AON network.Activity Packaging Task Force R&D Group Corp. Eng. H$$P Manuf. Pack. Prod. Manuf. Maint. Purchasing Material & Other Direct Charges a$$prod$.$ rationale $11211200$ $ $0$ b$$dev$.$ formula $01642000500$ c$$prod$.$ spec. $16311010$ d$$reg$.$ document $012420000$ e$$dev$.$ pkg$.$ concept $128428024000$ f$$design pkg$.122303032000$ g$$dev$.$ proces. sys$.01812120000$ h$$dev$.$ pkg$.$ sys$.24880$