For this problem set, this office is open $6$ days per week for $7$ actual working hours per day.

At present, one person is assigned to each task in this process. What is the cycle time of this process as it is presently staffed?

What is the utilization of this process as it is presently organized?

Given this office's work schedule, and the cycle time that you determined in question #$1,$ how many claims can it process in one week given the following assumptions?

$(1)$ first thing Monday morning there is nothing in process, at any work station, from the end of the prior week,

AND $($both assumptions apply simultaneously$)$

$(2)$ during the week, the line is NOT emptied each night, rather claims are left in process at each work station, at the end of each day, so that processing resumes at all work stations first thing on Tuesday through Saturday mornings.

Change assumption #$2($in question $3)$ to the following $($assumption #$1$ is unchanged$)$: nothing is left in process at the end of each day; each morning, the line starts off empty each day.

Now how many claims can be processed in one week?

Assuming that the cycle time determined in question #$1$ is sufficient to meet current demand, could you improve the utilization of this process? If yes, how would you do it $($be specific$-$using a flow chart sketch may be helpful$)?$