As part of a major plant renovation project, the industrial engineering department has been asked to balance a revised assembly operation to achieve an output of 240 units per eight-hour day. Task times and precedence relationships are as follows: Task Duration Immediate
(minutes) Predecessor
a 0.2 -
b 0.4 a
c 0.2 b
d 0.4 -
e 1.2 d
f 1.2 c
g 1.0 e, f
Do each of the following:
A. Determine the minimum cycle time, the maximum cycle time, and the calculated cycle time.
The minimum cycle time minutes
The maximum cycle time minutes
Calculated cycle time minutes
B. Determine the minimum number of stations needed.
C. Assign tasks to workstations on the basis of greatest number of following tasks. Use longest processing time as a tiebreaker. If ties still exist, assume indifference in choice.
Work stations Following Tasks
I (A, B, D, C) ( A, B, C, D) ( D, C, A) ( A ) ( D, B, C)
II (E) ( D, C, A) (C, F, B) (A) (B, E)
III (B) (F) (F, G) (E) (C)
IV (A, B, C) (E, F) (G) (E) (C, D)
D. Compute the percentage of idle time for the assignment in part d. Use the actual bottleneck cycle time in your calculation.

Reliability and validity reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. in the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways. unfortunately, being consistent in measurement does not necessarily mean that you have measured something correctly. to illustrate this concept, consider a kitchen scale that would be used to measure the weight of cereal that you eat in the morning. if the scale is not properly calibrated, it may consistently under- or overestimate the amount of cereal that’s being measured. while the scale is highly reliable in producing consistent results (e. g., the same amount of cereal poured onto the scale produces the same reading each time), those results are incorrect. this is where validity comes into play. validity refers to the extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure. while any valid measure is by necessity reliable, the reverse is not necessarily true. researchers strive to use instruments that are both highly reliable and valid.

Suppose a country's productivity last year was 84. if this country's productivity growth rate of 5 percent is to be maintained, this means that this year's productivity will have to be:

Your sister turned 35 today, and she is planning to save $60,000 per year for retirement, with the first deposit to be made one year from today. she will invest in a mutual fund that's expected to provide a return of 7.5% per year. she plans to retire 30 years from today, when she turns 65, and she expects to live for 25 years after retirement, to age 90. under these assumptions, how much can she spend each year after she retires? her first withdrawal will be made at the end of her first retirement year.