The work required for a contract is predictable and quite repetitive. The hours for the preparation of
Question:
The work required for a contract is predictable and quite repetitive. The hours for the preparation of a standard contract for each category of projects are given below, by the types of professionals employed by the firm.
| Type | Hours per contract (shopping center) | Hours per contract (clinics) | Number of professionals | Availability per day (in hours)* |
| paralegal | 4 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| tax lawyer | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Senior partner | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
* A paralegal can work up to 6 hours a day on contracts, a lawyer up to 8 hours a day, and an associate up to 4 hours a day.
Suppose that next month the firm anticipates a demand for 150 contracts to be processed (75 of each category). Suppose also that there are 20 working days in a month.
a) Estimate the average capacity of the firm (in contracts per day).
Hint: Start by calculating the average number of hours per contract by type of professional, given that there are 50% of contracts in each of the two categories. Next, identify the bottleneck.
b) Demonstrate that the firm will not be able to process 150 contracts next month with its current workforce.
c) If the firm wanted to process 150 contracts next month, how many professionals of each type would be required?
Expert Answer:
a To estimate the average capacity of the firm in contracts per day we need to calculate the total number of hours required to process one contract of ... View the full answer
