Final answer:
In line balancing, the time each workstation takes is dictated by actual customer demand, and several factors must be considered to optimize a production line, suggesting adjustments may be necessary to maintain efficiency.
Step-by-step explanation:
In line balancing, d. the time at each workstation is driven by actual customer demand. This concept is critical in understanding how to optimize the production line to meet customer needs without excessive downtime or bottlenecks. In practice, several factors affect the efficiency and effectiveness of a production line. The takt time, which defines the rate at which products must be completed to meet customer demand, does have an impact on efficiency; thus, statement a is incorrect. Statement b suggests that the number of actual workstations should always match the theoretical number, but in distribution and production settings, various factors, including uneven task times and resource constraints, can lead to differences between the actual and theoretical count. Statement c is incorrect because a balanced line might need to be changed or adjusted due to new product introductions, demand shifts, or process improvements. The memoryless property mentioned indicates that the distribution of customer arrivals is not dependent on how much time has passed, which relates to randomness in customer flow—this can challenge constant production pacing.