7. Marucheck’s makeshift manufacturing facility had three departments: shaping, pickling, and packing. Marucheck’s orders averaged 100 pieces each. Each of the three shaping machines required one hour setup, but could run a piece in one minute. The pickling department lowered baskets of pieces into brine tanks and subjected them to low-voltage current, a heating and cooling, and a rinse. The whole process took four hours for any number of baskets or pieces. The only brine tank could hold four baskets, each of which could contain 50 pieces. (Baskets were loaded while another load was in the tank.) Each piece was inspected and wrapped in bubble pack in the packing department. Each of the four people in the department could do this at the rate of 25 pieces per hour. Marucheck had heard of the theory of constraints (TOC) and wanted to identify the bottleneck department. Which is it?

Problems 297