Activity $2$: Gather and format the information $($obtain credit scores, organize customer$-$specific needs$)$ for analysis $(5$ minutes$/$loan$).$

Activity $3$: Analyze the information: check the creditworthiness and decide the loan amount and APR to offer $(7$ minutes$/$loan$).$

Activity $4$: Perform final checks on the loan offer $(2$ minutes$/$loan$).$

Activity $5$: Call customer back with the new loan offer and close $(4$ minutes$/$loan$).$

The whole process is conducted by three workers in a worker$-$paced line. The assignment of tasks to workers is the following: Worker $1$ does activity $1,$ Worker $2$ does activities $2$ and $3,$ and Worker $3$ does activities $4$ and $5.$ Each worker is paid $$20$ per hour. You can assume that there exists unlimited demand and that loans are only entering the process at the rate of the bottleneck.

$($a$)(2pt$ What is the bottleneck in the process?

The bottleneck in this process is whoever performs activities $2$ and $3$ because these activities take the longest to complete, compared to the other activities.

$($b$)(2$ pt$)$ What are the costs of direct labor?

Number of workers $*$ wage $=$ direct labor

$3**$$$20=$$$60$

$($c$)(3$ pt$)$ Across all three workers, what is the average labor utilization?

ALU$=$ minutes per worker$/$available time

ALU$=60mi\frac{n}{180}$min$=30\%$

$($d$)(3$ pts$)$ How would you rebalance the process to maximize process capacity, assuming that the five activities have to be carried out in the given order?