In a recent state government budget, the Motor Registration and Licensing Office suffered substantial cutbacks. As a result, each department has been asked to submit a cost budget for the coming year 1 is 10 per cent lower than the costs for the current year.

The Licensing Department, which employed 50 people, issues driver's licences to qualified applicants. On average the department processes 250 licences per hour. To achieve the required co saving, the branch manager has decided to re-engineer the process. The proposed process will cons 5 consecutive activities and require a staff of 45 people:

• Area A would have a staff of 5 people and be responsible for receiving each application and chemical that it is complete. They could process 250 applicants per hour.

• Area B would have a staff of 8 people, who confirm that the applicant is qualified to drive. They process 350 applicants per hour.

• Area C would have a staff of 10 people, who take the applicant's photo. They could process 150 applicants per hour.

• Area D would have a staff of 17 people, who complete the licence card by adding the photo and driver's licence number to the card. They could process 140 applicants per hour.

• Area E would have a staff of 5 people, who issue the licence to the applicant and process has or payment. They could process 280 applicants per hour.

Required:

1. How many drivers licence applicants would be processed per hour using the re-engineered process.

2. Identify the bottlenecks that would have to be removed to reach the current level of output.

3. Make recommendations on the number of staff that are required for each area in order to achieve the current level of output. Remember that to achieve the required cost savings, the maximum size is 45.