In: Statistics and Probability
6. Facility layout and material flow path design are major factors in the productivity analysis of automated manufacturing systems. Facility layout is concerned with the location arrangement o machines and buffers for work-in-process. Flow path design is concerned with the location arrangement of machines and buffers for work -in-process. Flow path design is concerned with the direction of manufacturing material flows (e.g., unidirectional or bidirectional). A manufacturer of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is interested in evaluating two alternative existing layout and flow path designs. The output of each design was monitored for eight consecutive working days. Working Days Design 1 Design 2 8/16 1,220 units 1,273 units 8/17 1,092 units 1,363 units 8/18 1,136 units 1.342 units 8/19 1,205 units 1,471 units 8/20 1,086 units 1,299 units 8/23 1,274 units 1,457 units 8/24 1,145 units 1,263 units 8/25 1,281 units 1,368 units a. Construct a 95% confidence interval for the difference in mean daily output of the two designs.