Lego, the building block company, has a production line of lego blocks and lego wheels. Each of the blocks and wheels are made from plastic, which requires time to mold into shapes. Different costs are associated with producing wheels and blocks; the molding process is different for each. Suppose that Lego wishes to produce at least 600 total pieces over a 3 day shift. A generic wheel takes about 3 minutes to create, whereas the generic block takes 2 minutes. Assume the machine is producing legos constantly at least 8 hours a workday. If the cost of producing a block if $0.09 and the cost of producing a wheel is $0.13, how many wheels and blocks should be produced to minimize cost over a 3 day production period?
(a) List 3 additional facts from the analysis of the above situation which may be useful in the production operations for lego blocks and wheels.
(b) Suppose the new lego creation requires a wheel for every 4 blocks that are produced. How does the optimal value change? Report all significant changes.