Consider five activities A, B, C, D, and E, each performed by Workers A, B, C, D, and E, respectively, as shown in Fig. 6.15. Worker D performs a quality control (QC) activity and discards about 5 percent of units that do not pass quality control test. The process time of each activity (in minutes) is also shown in the figure. Process times have no variability.

The buffers between each two activities have the maximum limit of holding 10 units. The following questions refer to the process in Fig. 6.15 and are independent of each other.

a. If Activities B and C are performed simultaneously in parallel (instead of serial), how much does that increase the capacity of the process?

b. If Activity D is performed before Activity C but after Activity B, how much does that affect the capacity of the process?

c. If the size of the buffer between Activities B and C is increased to 15 units, how does that affect the capacity and throughput of the process?

d. Suppose that the process time of Activity C is either 12 or 20 minutes with equal probability—the average is still 16 minutes. How does this affect the capacity and the throughput of the process?

e. How much does the capacity of the process increase if Activities A and B are pooled?

How much does the capacity of the process increase if Activities B and C are pooled?