Answer two of the following questions qualitatively and give examples as needed
(i) Suppose management is seeking to improve a current system on the dimensions of WIP, cycle time, and/or throughput. You are brought in as an expert consultant to help management determine what they could do. What useful information might you want to obtain? What are the top two things you would recommend that the firm improve in the current line? (Be specific about facility number and the input parameter that should be improved first.)
(ii) Suppose it is possible to switch the order of processing of all parts so that material first goes to facility 2 and then to facility 1, instead of going to facility 1 first and then facility 2. You are asked to advice the management team to help determine if the flow pattern in a new line to be installed should be from facility 1 to facility 2 or from facility 2 to 1. Assuming all other data remain unchanged, which flow pattern would you recommend and why?
(iii) Another option under consideration for the design of a new line is to combine the facilities 1 and 2 into a single new facility with three parallel identical servers, each of which would be capable of doing the entire processing that the previous two facilities performed. Would you recommend that the two facilities be combined into one? Explain.