A company is designing a product layout for a new product.It plans to use this production line eight hours a day in order to meet projected demand of 480 units per day.The tasks necessary to produce this product: If the company desires that output rate equal demand,what would the percentage idle time of this line be with the minimum number of workstations?
A)0%
B)7.5%
C)1%
D)12.5%
E)10%

Question

A company is designing a product layout for a new product.It plans to use this production line eight hours a day in order to meet projected demand of 480 units per day.The tasks necessary to produce this product:  If the company desires that output rate equal demand,what would the percentage idle time of this line be with the minimum number of workstations?
A)0% 
B)7.5% 
C)1% 
D)12.5% 
E)10%

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To determine the minimum number of workstations, we need to use the longest task time, which is Task D at 1.2 minutes. We also need to use the cycle time, which is the rate of production needed to meet demand in the available production time. 
Cycle time = Production time available / Required output rate = (8 hours x 60 min/hour) / 480 units = 1 minute 
To calculate the number of workstations: 
Number of workstations = Sum of task times / cycle time = (0.6 + 0.4 + 0.8 + 1.2 + 0.8) / 1 = 3.8, which rounds up to 4. 
Now, to calculate the idle time: 
Idle time = (Number of workstations x cycle time - Sum of task times) / (Number of workstations x cycle time) x 100% 
Idle time = ((4 x 1) - 3.8) / (4 x 1) x 100% = 5% 
Therefore, the closest answer choice is E, 10%.

A Company Is Designing a Product Layout for a New