Four products (1,2,3,and 4)must be processed on one of four machines (A,B,C,and D).The times required in minutes for each product on each machine are shown below. If management wishes to assign products to machines so that the total time to complete all the products is minimized,then Product 4 is assigned to
A)machine A.
B)machine B.
C)machine C.
D)machine D.

Question

Four products (1,2,3,and 4)must be processed on one of four machines (A,B,C,and D).The times required in minutes for each product on each machine are shown below.  If management wishes to assign products to machines so that the total time to complete all the products is minimized,then Product 4 is assigned to
A)machine A. 
B)machine B. 
C)machine C. 
D)machine D.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To minimize the total time to complete all the products, we can use the "smallest sum" method, which selects the smallest sum for each product and assigns the product to the corresponding machine. Using this method, we get the following matrix:

|   | A  | B  | C  | D  |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| 1 | 10 |  9 | 12 |  8 |
| 2 |  8 | 11 |  7 | 11 |
| 3 |  9 | 12 |  8 | 10 |
| 4 |  7 | 10 |  6 |  7 |

By summing up the times for each machine, we get:

A: 34
B: 42
C: 33
D: 36

The smallest time is for machine C, so we assign product 4 to machine C. Therefore, the best choice is C.

Four Products (1,2,3,and 4)must Be Processed on One of Four