Question

Consider a production line with five stations. Station 1 can produce a unit in 9 minutes. Station 2 can produce a unit in 10 minutes. Station 3 has two identical machines, each of which can process a unit in 12 minutes (each unit only needs to be processed on one of the two machines. Station 4 can produce a unit in 5 minutes. Station 5 can produce a unit in 8 minutes. Which station is the bottleneck station?

 

Answer 1

Capacity refers to the minimum output which can be produced by a certain input or production line.

Bottleneck in a process refers to the input who's limited capacity can reduce the capacity of the entire process.

Calculate the capacity of each station by way of dividing 60 min by time per unit as shown below:

Station 1 capacity \(=60 \min / 9 \mathrm{~min}=6.7\) per hour

Station 2 capacity \(=60 \mathrm{~min} / 10 \mathrm{~min}=6\) per hour

Station 3 capacity \(=(60 \min / 12 \min ) * 2=10\) per hour

Station 4 capacity \(=60 \mathrm{~min} / 5 \min =12\) per hour

Station 5 capacity \(=60 \min / 8 \mathrm{~min}=7.5\) per hour

Capacity of station 2 is the minimum (6 per hour). Therefore, bottleneck is station