Question

. State Automobile License Renewals Operations

Jennifer, the manager of Macon branch office of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, decided to perform an analysis of the driver's license renewal operations. Several procedural steps were to be performed in the process. After examining the license renewal process, she identified the six steps and associated times required to perform each step, as shown in the following table:

State Automobile License Renewals Process Times

            STEP                                                                           AVERAGE TIME (in seconds)

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A. Review renewal application for correctness                                              15

B. Process and record payment                                                                      30

C. Check file for violations and restrictions                                                   60

D. Conduct eye test                                                                                        40

E. Photograph applicant                                                                                  20

F. Issue temporary license                                                                              30

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Jennifer found that each step was assigned to a different person at different office – a typical line layout in service operations. That is, each application must be going through a same process in the sequence shown above. Jessica determined that her office should be prepared to be able to handle the maximum expected demand - 120 renewal applicants per hour.

She observed that the work was unevenly divided among the clerks, and the clerk who was responsible for checking violations tended to shortcut her task to keep up with the other clerks. Long lines built up during the maximum demand periods. She also found that in general the six steps above must be in that order (A – B – C – D – E – F) for each application. That is, Step-A reviewing the application for correctness, must be performed before any other step could be taken. Similarly, Step-F issuing the temporary license, could not be performed until all the other steps were completed. Jennifer was under a high pressure to increase productivity and reduce costs, but she was also told by the regional director of the Department of' Motor Vehicles that she had better accommodate the expected maximum demand for renewals. Otherwise, "heads would roll."

QUESTIONS: (You must show your solution process to earn your points.)

a. What is the maximum number of applications per hour that can be handled by the present configuration of the process? Why?  

b. Assume if a second clerk is added to check for violations (Step-C) and this person can serve the applicants at the same speed as the original (first) clerk, can Jennifer and the branch office now be able to process the expected maximum demand (i.e., 120 applications per hour)? If not, how many applications can now be processed per hour?

c. As in (b) above, if, after a second clerk is added to Step-C, and Jennifer was then told that she would be allowed to have a budget increase to hire another clerk – who can be added to any steps in the process except Step-E and Step-F (special personnel is needed for those two steps). How would you suggest to Jennifer in modifying the process in order to accommodate 120 applications per hour?

SHOW ALL WORK

Answer 1

Answer a=

Step	Activity	Average time	Number of applications/hr
A	Review renewal application for correctness	15	3600/15=240
B	Process and record payment	30	3600/30=120
C	Check file for violations and restrictions	60	3600/60=60
D	Conduct eye test	40	3600/40=90
E	Photograph applicant	20	3600/20=180
F	Issue temporary license	30	3600/30=120

Bottleneck capacity =60  

maximum number of applications per hour that can be handled by the present configuration of the process = capacity of bottleneck =60 applications per hr

Answer b= When one more operator is added at process C

Step	Activity	Average time	Number of applications/hr
A	Review renewal application for correctness	15	3600/15=240
B	Process and record payment	30	3600/30=120
C	Check file for violations and restrictions	60	3600/(60*2)=120
D	Conduct eye test	40	3600/40=90
E	Photograph applicant	20	3600/20=180
F	Issue temporary license	30	3600/30=120

So the bottleneck capacity =90  

Jennifer and the branch office now will not be able to process the expected maximum demand as the process capacity is 90 applications hr