Custom Golf has decided to evaluate its production process for making sets of custom fitted golf clubs for customers. There are three pieces used to make a golf club; a club head, shaft, and grip. The first two steps in the process are measuring shafts and cutting shafts. Each step takes 15 minutes per unit (set of clubs). While those two separate steps are taking place, the club heads need to be prepared. Club prep can happen simultaneously with steps 1 & 2. This step takes 27 minutes per unit. Next, the shafts are glued into the club heads using a resin epoxy, in the epoxy department. This takes 25 minutes per unit. The clubs then move on to the final assembly. The sets of clubs are at the final assembly station for 78 minutes. There are 2 final assembly operators.

a). Which operation is the bottleneck?

b). What is the throughput time for the overall system?

c). If the company operates 8 hours per day, 22 days per month, what is the monthly capacity of the process.

d). Suppose that a third assembly operator is added. Is there a new bottleneck time for the system?

e). Suppose a fourth assembly operator is added. What is the new throughput time?