Baskin$-$Robbins $($BR$)$ has a line that produces half$-$gallon ice cream packs. All the stations in

this line are single$-$machine and the line is nearly balanced. Suppose that BR hired you as the

production manager to evaluate the performance of the line. You have estimated that the

bottleneck rate to be $2,337$ packs per $19-$hour day and the raw process time to be $0\mathrm{.}5$ hours.

The actual production rate of this line is $1,900$ packs per day with the average cycle time of $2\mathrm{.}9$

hours.

$($a$)$ Estimate the average WIP for this line:

WIP: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$

$($b$)$ Compare the performance of this line to the minimum expected performance:

THMEP: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$ CTMEP: $\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_$