A production line has three machines A, B, and C, with reliabilities of .99, .96, and .93, respectively. The machine are arrange to that if one breaks down, the other: must shut down. Engineers are weighing two alternative designs for the line’s reliability. Plan 1 involve adding an identical backup line, and plan 2 involves providing a backup for each machine. In either case, three machines (A, B, and C) would be used with reliabilities equal to the original three.
a. Which plan will provide the higher reliability?
b. Explain why the two reliabilities are not the same.
c. What other factors might enter into the decision of which plan to adopt?
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Chapter 4 Solutions
Loose-leaf for Operations Management (The Mcgraw-hill Series in Operations and Decision Sciences)
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- Practical Management ScienceOperations ManagementISBN:9781337406659Author:WINSTON, Wayne L.Publisher:Cengage,