Problem $2.(45$ points$)$ PROCESS ANALYSIS.

ClearView Clinic specializes in providing outpatient cataract surgeries to patients in a bustling

suburban area. Recently, the clinic has been receiving feedback about prolonged wait times, and

they are seeking your assistance to investigate the issue. The process involves several steps,

beginning with patient registration, medical assessment, anesthesia, surgery, and check$-$out.

Each of these steps requires different resources and time, as shown in the table below:

Resources Task Average Time $($minutes$)$

Receptionist Registration $5$

Nurse, Surgical Room Assessment $12$

Anesthesiologist, Op$.$ Room Anesthesia $18$

Anesthesiologist, Surgeon, Nurse, Op$.$ Room Surgery $40$

Receptionist Check$-$out $4$

The hospital has $1$ receptionist, $3$ nurses, $2$ surgical rooms, $2$ anesthesiologists, $2$ surgeons and $2$ operating

rooms.

a$)(3$ points$)$ What is the raw process time $($flow time in system with no waiting$)$ of a patient in

this process $($in minutes$)?$ Assume all resources are available whenever needed and there are

no delays between tasks $($e$.$g$.,$ you may ignore the time the patient spends walking or getting

transported between tasks$).$

b$)(12$ points$)$ Complete the table below. Determine the total workload assigned to each

resource per patient. Show all your work and fill in the answers in the table. Notice that you

will compute the capacity of each resource. Note that $$pat$/$hr$$ refers to $$patients per hour$.$

Resource

Processing

Time

$($min$/$pat$)$

Capacity of

each Resource

$($pat$/$hr$/$resource$)$

Number of Resources

per Resource Type

Capacity of

Resource Type

$($pat$/$hr$)$

Receptionist

Nurse

Surgical Room

Anesthesiologist

Op$.$ Room

Surgeon

c$)(3$ points$)$ What is the hourly capacity $($i$.$e$.,$ maximum hourly throughput rate$)$ of the process?

Your answer should be in number of patients per hour $($pat$/$hr$).$

d$)(3$ points$)$ Which resource $($or resources$)$ is $($are$)$ the bottleneck of this process?

e$)(4$ points$)$ What is the hourly utilization rate of nurses if the bottleneck$($s$)$ work nonstop $($i$.$e$.,$

works at capacity$),$ i$.$e$.,$ the process is paced at its full capacity? Keep in mind that the non$-$

bottlenecks may be idle during the day because the process follows the pace of the

bottleneck and that a patient is served completely on the day they arrive, i$.$e$.,$ there is no

work$-$in$-$process remaining at the end of the day.

f$)(20$ points$)$ The clinic decides to update the process in the following way because the demand

is expected to increase: they add another operating room which costs $$1200/$hr and the

anesthesiologist will now stay only for $25$ minutes during surgery instead of the current $40$

minutes on average. A patient brings in $$5,000$ in revenue, on average. You can ignore the

fixed cost of constructing a new operating room.

i$.(6$ points$)$ Update the capacity of the operating rooms and the anesthesiologists.

ii$.(2$ points$)$ Which resource $($or resources$)$ is $($are$)$ the bottleneck of this process after the

change?

iii. $(2$ points$)$ What is the capacity of the process now?

iv$.(6$ points$)$ Compute the incremental benefit of this change in $$/$hr$?$ Assume that the

process can work at its capacity. Hint: Consider the increase in capacity due to this

change.

v$.(4$ points$)$ Is the process update feasible? Prove your answer by comparing the

incremental benefit with the incremental cost of the change