Trek Mini is a toy bicycle manufacturing company producing a five inch small version of the famous Trek bicycles. The assembly process at Trek Mini consists of seven consecutive steps. The steps are summarized below:

• Step 1 (40 sec.): The plastic tube for the frame is cut to size.
• Step 2 (20 sec.): The tube is put together.
• Step 3 (35 sec.): The frame is glued together.
• Step 4 (20 sec.): The frame is cleaned.
• Step 5 (30 sec.): Paint is sprayed onto the frame.
• Step 6 (20 sec.): Wheels are assembled.
• Step 7 (35 sec.): All other parts are assembled to the frame.

Under the current process layout, workers are allocated to the stations as shown here:

Workstation 1: Steps 1, 2
Workstation 2: Steps 3, 4
Workstation 3: Step 5, 6
Workstation 4: Step 7

a) What is the bottleneck in this process? Find the bottleneck time and the throughput time and explain what they mean.
b) Simulate the process for three toy bicycles. Do you confirm the values found in part (a)?
c) What is the capacity of this assembly line, in finished units/hour?
d) Based on recommendations of a consultant, Atlas Inc. decides to reallocate the tasks among the workstations to achieve maximum process capacity. Assume that if a workstation is in charge of two tasks, then the tasks have to go adjacent to each other. Also, assume that the sequence of steps cannot be changed. What is the % increase in capacity that can be achieved by this reallocation?
e) Is it possible for Atlas Inc. to further increase the capacity found in (d) by adding one parallel workstation to the bottleneck workstation? Why or why not?