Some tasks and the order in which they must be performed according to their assembly requirements are shown in the following table.

These are to be combined into workstations to create an assembly line. The assembly line operates 7½ hours per day. The output requirement is 1,000 units per day.

Task Preceding Tasks Time

(Seconds)

A – 15 B A 24 C A 6 D B 12 Preceding Tasks Time (Seconds)
E B 18 F C 7 G C 11 H D 9 I E 14 J F, G 7 K H, I 15 L J, K 10

a. What is the workstation cycle time required to produce 1,000 units per day?

b. Balance the line using the longest task time based on the 1,000-
unit forecast, stating which tasks would be done in each workstation.

c. For (b), what is the efficiency of your line balance, assuming it is running at the cycle time from part (a)?

d. After production was started, Marketing realized that it understated demand and must increase output to 1,100 units. What action would you take? Be specific and quantitative in your answer.