The simple idea here is that we redesign the lay$-$out of the process, holding the current sequence

constant. By creating a U$-$shaped line, it is possible to have step $6$ and step $1$ be staffed by the

same person, who would operate on the $3$ minute cycle that is imposed by the bottleneck step

$($step $3).$ This would cut the cost of direct labor $/$ it would increase the average labor utilization.