Charles Lackey operates a bakery in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Because of its excellent
ID: 459214 • Letter: C
Question
Charles Lackey operates a bakery in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Because of its excellent product and excellent location, demand has increased by 45%
in the last year. On far too many occasions, customers have not been able to purchase the bread of their choice. Because of the size of the store, no new ovens can be added. At a staffmeeting, one employee suggested ways to load the ovens differently so that more loaves of bread can be baked at one time. This new process will require that the ovens be loaded by hand, requiring additional manpower. This is the only thing to be changed. (Productivity remains the same.) (Hint: Each worker works 160 hours per month.)
If the bakery currently makes 1,600 loaves per month with a labor productivity of 2.344 loaves per labor hour, then Lackey will need to add ? worker(s) to meet the increased demand (recall that each worker works 160 hours per month and round your response up to the next whole number).
Explanation / Answer
Current production = 1600 loaves per month
Labor productivity per labor hour = 2.344 loaves per labor hour
Labor productivity per month = 2.344*160 = 375 loaves per month hour
Present number of workers = 1600 / 375 = 4.27, workers cannot be in fractions, so this is rounded off to the next whole number, i.e. 5
Increased demand = 1600 + 1600*45% = 2320 loaves per month
Total workers required to meet the increased demand = 2320 / 375 = 6.2, this is rounded off to next whole number i.e. 7
Lackey currently has 5 workers, so he needs to add 2 more workers to meet the increased demand