The operations manager for Dogs R Us is trying to understand the bottleneck in the dog grooming process. Times below are given in minutes per dog and where there are two or more employees they can process two or more dogs simultaneously.

Question (in proper order)

The operations manager for Dogs R Us is trying to understand the bottleneck in the dog grooming process. Times below are given in minutes per dog, and when there are two or more employees they can process two or more dogs simultaneously.

Process step                             Time(min./dog)                     Who

Verify customer information    5                           Front desk (2 employees)

Crate the dog                           2                           Front desk  (2 employees)

Wash and dry the dog            20                          Washers (3 employees)

Nails and teeth                        13                           Nail/teeth specialists (2)

Grooming                                 25                         Groomers (4 employees)

Call customer for pick-up       5                            Front desk (2 employees)

Assuming that demand and supply exceed capacity, what is the maximum flow rate (in dogs per hour) for this process?

a. 9.2

b. 9.6

c. 10

d. None of the above

d. None of the above

Explanation:

average time taken to:

1. verify customer info = 5mins/2 employees = 2.5mins/dog

2. crate the dog = 2min/2 employees = 1 mins/dog

3. wash and dry the dog = 20 mins/3 employees = 6.67min/dog

4. work on nails and teeth = 13 mins/ 2 employees = 6.5 min/dog

5. groom the dog = 25 mins / 4 employees = 6.25min/dog

6. call customer for pick-up = 5 mins/ 2 employees = 2.5 mins/dog

The most time is spent to wash and dry dogs (6.67 mins)

it is therefore one bottleneck

for this process a dog is processed in 6.67 mins

one hour = 60 mins

⇒ (60/6.67) dogs will be processed in an hour

that is, 9 dogs (approx)

hence, none of the above is the right option