The maker of the world-famous Chocolate Chip Cookies needs to design a product layout for a new product, Mint Chocolate Chip. The company plans to use this new production line eight hours a day in order to meet projected demand of 1,440 cases per day. The following table describes the tasks involved in the production of a case of Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies.
For output to equal projected demand, what is the theoretical minimum number of workstations needed?
A) 6
B) 4.5
C) 3
D) 2.7
E) 2

Question

The maker of the world-famous Chocolate Chip Cookies needs to design a product layout for a new product, Mint Chocolate Chip. The company plans to use this new production line eight hours a day in order to meet projected demand of 1,440 cases per day. The following table describes the tasks involved in the production of a case of Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies. 
For output to equal projected demand, what is the theoretical minimum number of workstations needed?
A) 6 
B) 4.5 
C) 3 
D) 2.7 
E) 2

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To calculate the theoretical minimum number of workstations, we need to use the following formula: 
N = (sum of task times) / (time available per day x desired output)
N = (8.5 + 7.5 + 5.5 + 6 + 8 + 7 + 13) / (8 x 1440) 
N = 56 / 11520 
N = 0.0048
Rounding up to the nearest whole number, we get N = 1.
Therefore, we need at least one workstation to produce the desired output. 
However, we also need to look at the cycle time, which is the maximum time it takes to complete a task at each workstation. 
The cycle time must be less than or equal to the time available per day divided by the number of workstations.
For example, if we have 2 workstations, the cycle time must be less than or equal to 8 / 2 = 4 hours per case.
Using this calculation, we find that the cycle times for each workstation are as follows:
- WS1: 8.5 hours per case
- WS2: 13.5 hours per case
- WS3: 19 hours per case
Based on these cycle times, we can see that we need at least 3 workstations to meet the cycle time constraint and produce the desired output.

The Maker of the World-Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies Needs to Design