Question

Your manufacturing requires parts to go sequentially through process a, b, and c. A machine can do process a in 1 minute, b in 2 minutes, and c in 3 minutes. You have two a machines, one b machine, and three c machines. Which process is the bottleneck (can produce the fewest items per unit time)? a) process a b) process b c) process c.

Answer 1

b) process b

Explanation:

You have 2 of machine A, each of which can do its process in 1 minute; 1 of machine B, which takes 2 minutes to do its process; and 3 of machine C, each of which takes 3 minutes to do its process.

Production quantities

In 6 minutes, the 2 of machine A can produce 2 × 6/1 = 12 units.

In 6 minutes, the 1 of machine B can produce 1 × 6/2 = 3 units.

In 6 minutes, the 3 of machine C can produce 3 × 6/3 = 6 units.

Process B produces the fewest units in equivalent time, so process b is the bottleneck.

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Additional comment

The production quantity of a given machine is ...

(production time)/(time/unit) = units

This will be multiplied by the number of machines doing the process.

For comparison purposes, we used a production time of 6 minutes here.