Final answer:
To keep non-bottleneck resources aligned with the bottleneck's pace, firms must optimize the bottleneck and ensure that additional workers add value without causing diminishing marginal productivity, which occurs when extra labor starts to negatively impact efficiency due to limits in concurrent work and potential for congestion.
Step-by-step explanation:
To address the issue of keeping non-bottleneck machines operating at the same pace as the bottleneck in a manufacturing setup, a firm must first identify the bottleneck process. Once identified, resources can be allocated to optimize the bottleneck's efficiency. The second worker, for example, could handle tasks that impede productivity, such as answering phones, while a third worker could assist by bringing coffee to keep the first two workers energized. The concept of diminishing marginal productivity arises when each additional worker contributes less to the total output than the previous one, which often occurs due to limited work that can be performed concurrently or because of inefficiencies like overcrowding.
It is crucial to understand at what point diminishing marginal productivity kicks in to avoid overstaffing, which increases costs without proportional gains in output. This point varies based on the specific processes and industry, but it is fundamentally because there's a limit to how much additional labor positively impacts production before it starts causing congestion or redundancy.