Table 1023
the Terminal Company Is Attempting to Balance Its Assembly

Table 10.23
The Terminal Company is attempting to balance its assembly line of high-voltage electrical connectors. The desired output for the line is 50 connectors per hour, and the information on the work elements for this assembly line is as follows.
$$\begin{array} { | c | c | c | } \hline \begin{array} { c } \text { Work } \\\text { Elements }\end{array} & \begin{array} { c } \text { Time } \\( \mathrm { sec } ) \end{array} & \begin{array} { c } \text { Immediate } \\\text { Predecessor(s) }\end{array} \\\hline \mathrm { A } & 40 & - \cdot \\\mathrm { B } & 36 & \mathrm {~A} \\\mathrm { C } & 20 & \mathrm {~A} \\\mathrm { D } & 2 & \mathrm {~A} \\\mathrm { E } & 30 & \mathrm {~B} , \mathrm { C } \\\mathrm { F } & 34 & \mathrm { D } \\\mathrm { G } & 35 & \mathrm { E } \\\mathrm { H } & 5 & \mathrm {~F} \\\mathrm { I } & 15 & \mathrm { E } , \mathrm { H } \\\mathrm { J } & 40 & \mathrm { H } \\\mathrm { K } & 38 & \mathrm { G } , \mathrm { I } , \mathrm { J } \\\hline\end{array}$$
-Use the information from Table 10.23, and the longest work- element rule to balance this line. If the time needed to perform work element K was reduced by 1 second and all other work element times were unchanged, what would happen to the number of stations needed to balance the line?

A) It would stay the same.
B) It would decrease by 1 station.
C) It would decrease by 2 stations.
D) It would increase by 1 station.