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1. Coach Bjourn Toulouse led the Big Red Herrings to several disappointing football seasons. Only better recruiting will return the Big Red Herrings to winning form. Because of the current state of the program, Boehring University fans are unlikely to support increases in the $ 192 season ticket price. Improved recruitment will increase overhead costs to $ 30,000 per class section from the current $ 25,000 per class section. The university's budget plan is to cover recruitment costs by increasing the average class size to 75 students. Labor costs will increase to $ 6,500 per 3- credit course. Material costs will be about $ 25 per student for each 3- credit course. Tuition will be $ 200 per semester credit, which is supplemented by state support of $ 100 per semester credit.
a.What is the multifactor productivity ratio? 1, did productivity increase or decrease for the course process?
b.If instructors work an average of 20 hours per week for 16 weeks for each 3- credit class of 75 students, what is the labor productivity ratio?

2.Suds and Duds Laundry washed and pressed the following numbers of dress shirts per week.
Week Work Crew Total Hours Shirts
1 Sud and Dud 24 68
2 Sud and Jud 46 130
3 Sud, Dud, and Jud 62 152
4 Sud, Dud, and Jud 51 125
5 Dud and Jud 45 131
a.Calculate the labor productivity ratio for each week.
b.Explain the labor productivity pattern exhibited by the data.

3.CD players are produced on an automated assembly line process. The standard cost of CD players is $ 150 per unit (labor, $ 30; materials, $ 70; and overhead, $ 50). The sales price is $ 300 per unit.
a.To achieve a 10 percent multifactor productivity improvement by reducing materials costs only, by what percentage must these costs be reduced?
b.To achieve a 10 percent multifactor productivity improvement by reducing labor costs only, by what percentage must these costs be reduced?
c.To achieve a 10 percent multifactor productivity improvement by reducing overhead costs only, by what percentage must these costs be reduced?

4.The output of a process is valued at $ 100 per unit. The cost of labor is $ 50 per hour including benefits. The accounting department provided the following information about the process for the past four weeks:
?
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
Units Produced 1,124 1,310 1,092 981
Labor ($) 12,735 14,842 10,603 9,526
Material ($) 21,041 24,523 20,442 18,364
Overhead ($) 8,992 10,480 8,736 7,848
a.Use the multifactor productivity ratio to see whether recent process improvements had any effect and, if so, when the effect was noticeable.
b.Has labor productivity changed? Use the labor productivity ratio to support your answer.

5.Alyssa's Custom Cakes currently sells 5 birthday, 2 wed-ding, and 3 specialty cakes each month for $ 50, $ 150, and $ 100 each, respectively. The cost of labor is $ 50 per hour including benefits. It takes 90 minutes to produce a birth-day cake, 240 minutes to produce a wedding cake, and 60 minutes to produce a specialty cake. Alyssa's current multifactor productivity ratio is 1.25.
a.Use the multifactor productivity ratio provided to calculate the average cost of the cakes produced.
b.Calculate Alyssa's labor productivity ratio in dollars per hour for each type of cake.
c.Based solely on the labor productivity ratio, which cake should Alyssa try to sell the most?
d.Based on your answer in part (a), is there a type of cake Alyssa should stop selling?

Consider the following data for a project:
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram.
b) Calculate the critical path for this project.
c) How much slack is in each of the activities G, H, and I?

The following information is known about a project:
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram for this project.
b) Determine the critical path and project duration.
c) Calculate the slack for each activity.

A project for improving a billing process has the following precedence relationships and activity times:
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram.
b) Calculate the slack for each activity. Which activities are on the critical path?

The following information is available for a project:
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram.
b) Find the critical path.

The following information is available for a project:
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram.
b) Calculate the slack for each activity and determine the critical path. How long will the project take?

Consider the following information for a project to add a drive-thru window at Crestview Bank.
The following information is available for a project:
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram for this project
b) Specify the critical path.
c) Calculate the slack for activities A and D.

Barbara Gordon, the project manager for Web Ventures, Inc, compiled a table showing time estimates for each of the activities of a project to upgrade the company's Web page, including optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic.
a) Calculate the expected time, t_e, for each activity.
b) Calculate the variable for each activity.

Recently, you were assigned to manage a project for your company. You have constructed a network diagram depicting the various activites in the project. In addition, you have asked your team to estimate the amount of time that they would espect each of the activities to take. Their responses are shown in the attached table.
a) What is the expected completion time of the project?
b) What is the probability of completing the project in 21 days?
c) What is the probability of completing the project in 17 days?

In Solved Problem 2 (attached), estimate the probability that the noncritical path B-F-G will take more than 20 weeks.

Consider the following data for a project never before attempted by your company.
[see the attachment]
a) Draw the network diagram for this project.
b) Identify the critical path and estimate the project's duration.
c) Calculate the slack for each activity.

The director of continuing education at Bluebird University just approved the planning for a sales training seminar. Her administrative assistant identified the various activities that must be done and their relationships to each other, as show attached.

Because of the uncertainty in planning the new course, the assistant has also supplied the following time estimates for each activity:
[see the attachment]

The director wants to conduct the seminar 47 working days from now. What is the probability that everything will be ready in time?

The project manager of Good Public Relations gathered the data shown in the attached table for a new advertising campaign.
a) How long is the project likely to take?
b) What is the probability that the project will take more than 38 weeks?
c) Consider the path A-E-G-H-J. What is the probability that this path will exceed 38 weeks?

The information in the attached table is available for a large fundraising project.
a) Determine the critical path and the expected completion time of the project.
b) Plot the total project cost, starting from day 1 to the expected completion date of the project, assuming the earliest start times for each activity. Compare that result to a similar plot for the latest start times. What implication does the time differential have for cash flows and project scheduling?

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Solution Summary

This posting addresses a few Productivity questions and a few Project management (PERT, CPM, Crashing) questions.

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