Your company is making experimental turbochargers for a new design of high-powered farm tractors

The production schedule for these new components is contained in the table below.

Month Turbochargers
1 4
2 6
3 7
4 8
5 5

The first turbocharger, a trial unit, took 900 hours to produce. Based on your experience with similar products, the learning curve is 85%. You have 20 employees, and each employee works 160 hours per month. How many hours will be required in each month? In which month(s) will overtime be required to meet the production schedule?

Use the Total Time column of the 85% section of Table E.3. The first four turbochargers require 900 ∗ 3.345 = 3,010 hours. The first 10 turbochargers require 900 ∗ 7.116 = 6,404 hours. From this answer, deduce that units 5 through 10 take 6,404 - 3,010 = 3,394 hours. The 20 employees contribute 3200 hours per month. Therefore, overtime is not needed in the first month but is needed in the second. Overtime is also needed in months 3 and 4, but not in month 5. The table below contains calculation details.

Month Number of Turbochargers Cumulative Turbochargers Total Time Factor From Table E.3 Cumulative hours Hours this month
1 4 4 3.345 3,010 3,010
2 6 10 7.116 6,404 3,394
3 7 17 10.898 9,808 3,404
4 8 25 14.801 13,321 3,513
5 5 30 17.091 15,382 2,061