The following table shows financial data $($year $2004)$ for Costco

Wholesale and Wal$-$Mart, two major U$.$S$.$ retailers.

Assume that both companies have an average annual holding cost rate of $30$ percent $($i$.$e$.,$ it costs

both retailers $$3$ to hold an item that they procured for $$10$ for one entire year$).$

a$.$ How many days, on average, does a product stay in Costco's inventory before it is sold?

Assume that stores are operated $365$ days a year.

b$.$ How much lower is$,$ on average, the inventory cost for Costco compared to Wal$-$Mart of a

household cleaner valued at $$5$ COGS? Assume that the unit cost of the household cleaner is the

same for both companies and that the price and the inventory turns of an item are independent.

Moreover, we assume the following activity times:

Activity times are independent of which bagel type is processed at a resource $($for example,

cutting a bagel takes the same time for a cream cheese bagel as for a veggie bagel$).$

a$.$ Where in the process is the bottleneck?

b$.$ How many units can the process produce within one hour, assuming the product mix

has to remain constant?