The personnel manager at Power west Inc. wants to estimate the direct and cumulative average direct labor hours for producing 30 locomotive train units during the next year. He estimates from past experience that the learning rate is 90 percent. The production department estimates that manufacturing the first unit will take 30,000 hours. Each employee averages 200 hours per month. The production rate forecast is as follows:

a. How many direct hours are required to produce the 30th unit?
b. How many total hours are needed to produce all 30 units?
c. What is the maximum number of employees required next year?
d. If the learning rate were changed to 0.85, what would be the impact on the total hours and the number of employees needed to produce 30 units?

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Production Rate Production Rate Month (units) Month (units) January 2 July February August 3 4 March September 3 October April 4 3 May November 1 June December 1 3.