Question 2 (Facility Layout) [30 marks]

A company is introducing a new model of an electronic product and needs to balance the process for its new assembly line, given the following task times and precedence relationships. Assume that the cycle time is 15 minutes.

Task Time (minutes) Immediate Predecessor

You are required to

1. Draw the precedence graph. [4 Marks]

2. Compute Nmin and assign tasks to stations by using the longest processing time decision rule. In case of a tie, use the tiebreaker of assigning the task with the largest number of following tasks. [14 Marks]

3.Draw the product layout with the assignment of tasks into each workstation. [4 Marks]

4. Determine the efficiency of the process. [4 Marks]

5. Compute the rate of output that could be expected for this line assuming a 480-minute working day.[4 Marks]

\begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|} \hline Task & Time (minutes) & Immediate Predecessor \\ \hline \hline A & 6 & \\ \hline B & 3 & A \\ \hline C & 5 & A \\ \hline D & 4 & B \\ \hline E & 5 & B \\ \hline F & 3 & C \\ \hline G & 7 & D \\ \hline H & 4 & E, F \\ \hline I & 4 & G, H \\ \hline \end{tabular}