The production of a particular product consists of the following work elements.If the cycle time is 4 minutes and the work-element times are as follows,what is the theoretical minimum number of stations?
A)fewer than or equal to three stations
B)four stations
C)five stations
D)more than five stations

Question

The production of a particular product consists of the following work elements.If the cycle time is 4 minutes and the work-element times are as follows,what is the theoretical minimum number of stations? 
A)fewer than or equal to three stations 
B)four stations 
C)five stations 
D)more than five stations

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To find the theoretical minimum number of stations, we need to apply the formula:
N = sum of work-element times / (cycle time x % utilization)
First, we need to find the % utilization:
% utilization = sum of work-element times / (cycle time x number of stations)
We can start by assuming 5 stations and calculating the % utilization:
% utilization = (0.4+0.3+0.5+0.2+0.4+0.5+0.2+0.1+0.3+0.4+0.3) / (4 x 5) = 95%
Now we can use the % utilization to calculate the theoretical minimum number of stations:
N = (0.4+0.3+0.5+0.2+0.4+0.5+0.2+0.1+0.3+0.4+0.3) / (4 x 0.95) = 5.26
Since we cannot have a fraction of a station, we need to round up to the next integer, which gives us 6 stations. However, we can also try assuming 4 stations to see if we get a lower N value:
% utilization = (0.4+0.3+0.5+0.2+0.4+0.5+0.2+0.1+0.3+0.4+0.3) / (4 x 4) = 118.75%
N = (0.4+0.3+0.5+0.2+0.4+0.5+0.2+0.1+0.3+0.4+0.3) / (4 x 1.1875) = 5
Therefore, the theoretical minimum number of stations is 5, which is option C.

The Production of a Particular Product Consists of the Following