Question

Consider a production line with three stations. The first station can process a unit in 10 minutes. The second station has two identical machines, each of which can process a unit in 12 minutes (each unit only needs to be processed on one of the two machines). The third station can process a unit in 8 minutes. Which station is the bottleneck station? a. station 1 b. station 2 c. station 3

Answer 1

a. station 1

Step-by-step explanation:

A bottleneck is basically the place or station where the production process is congested or delayed because that station lacks the capacity to process work. Bottlenecks are where queues are formed, and the whole process gets delayed.

In this case, station 1 can process 6 units per hour, station 2 can process 10 units per hour and station 3 can process 7.5 units per hour. The station that processes the least number of units is station 1, so that is the station that limits the whole production system. In this case, due to station 1's low processing capacity, a lot of idle time exists in the other 2 stations.