Amalgamated Engineering makes two kinds of gearbox - manual and automatic. There are four stages in the production of these, with details of times needed and weekly availabilities given below. The company makes a profit of £64 on each manual gearbox sold and £100 on each automatic gearbox.

(a) Find an optimal solution to the problem.
(b) The company can start making a new semiautomatic gearbox that needs 4, 4, 1 and 1 hour respectively in each manufacturing stage, and gives a profit of £80 a unit.
Should they make this newgearbox?

Transcribed Image Text:

Stage in manufact Time needecd ure hours per uni Time available hours per week) Manual Automatic Foundry Machine shop 5 7,500 10,000 3,500 2,000 4 Assembly 2 Testing