Question

Imagine US is a startup that offers high definition 3D prenatal ultrasounds for high-end customers. The service process includes five activities that are conducted in the sequence described below. (The time required for each activity is shown in parenthesis):

Activity 1: Welcome a patient and explain the procedure. (8 minutes)

Activity 2: Prep the patient (e.g., show them to the room, apply ultrasound gel). (5 minutes)

Activity 3: Take images. (14 minutes)

Activity 4: Analyze images. (10 minutes)

Activity 5: Discuss diagnostic with patient. (16 minutes)

At each location there are employees (servers) S1, S2, and S3. The assignment of tasks to servers is the following:

S1 does Activity 1 & 2

S2 does Activities 3 & 4

S3 does Activity 5

Question:

What is the capacity of this process (in customers per hour)?

Answer 1

Solution:

Total time taken by Server 1 (S1) is calculated as;

S1 = Activity 1 + Activity 2

S1 = 8 minutes + 5 minutes

S1 = 13 minutes

Total time taken by Server 2 (S2) is calculated as;

S2 = Activity 3 + Activity 4

S2 = 14 minutes + 10 minutes

S2 = 24 minutes

Total time taken by Server 3 (S3) is calculated as;

S3 = Activity 5

S3 = 16 minutes

The bottleneck process/server of the system = Server 2

Time taken by the bottleneck process = 24 minutes

The capacity of the process is calculated as;

Process capacity = 60 minutes / Time taken by the bottleneck process

Process capacity = 60 minutes / 24 minutes

Process capacity = 2.5 customers per hour