The preinduction physical examination given by the U.S. Army involves the following seven activities:

These activities can be performed in any order, with two exceptions: Medical history must be taken first, and Exit medical evaluation is last. At present, there are three paramedics and two physicians on duty during each shift. Only physicians can perform exit evaluations and conduct psychological interviews. Other activities can be carried out by either physicians or paramedics.

a) Develop a layout and balance the line.

b) How many people can be processed per hour?

c) Which activity accounts for the current bottleneck?

d) What is the total idle time per cycle?

e) If one more physician and one more paramedic can be placed on duty, how would you redraw the layout? What is the new throughput?

Read article and answer question’Should Home Depot and Lowe’s fear the pandemic’s end? Why or why not?’

Chief Executive Craig Menear boasted on Tuesday that “for many customers, the home has never been more important.” Investors are getting anxious about how long that will continue.

Both Home Depot and Lowe’s LOW -0.74% had strong holiday quarters ended late January, with sales up roughly 25% compared with a year earlier. Among the best selling items were lumber and outdoor living categories such as patio furniture and grills. For the year, Lowe’s and Home Depot saw their revenue expand by 24.2% and 19.9%, respectively.

But investors are focused on the future. Despite strong results, Lowe’s and Home Depot shares dropped after their respective earnings calls this week.

Lowe’s stuck to the guidance that it laid out in December, in which it said sales would be around $86 billion in 2021 under the most bullish scenario, a decline of 4% from 2020. Home Depot declined to give guidance.

So far, there are no signs of sales slowing down. January was the strongest month of growth last quarter for both companies, boosted by fresh stimulus payments to consumers. Home Depot said on its earnings call that it has seen continued strong demand in February.

Even without the same level of consumer-driven home improvement projects, both retailers have reasons to be optimistic.

Lowe’s still has room to increase profitability, for example. Its operating margins have traditionally been lower than Home Depot’s, but it is catching up thanks to productivity initiatives such as modernized checkout systems. Even under its most bearish scenario, Lowe’s expects its adjusted operating margins to expand this year.

Home Depot should benefit from a higher mix of professional customers, who are already showing stronger demand as consumers become less wary of letting strangers into their homes. Home Depot also has potential to grow more business through HD Supply, a maintenance, repair and operations business that it bought last year.

In contrast to other pandemic-era winners such as Lululemon LULU -0.70% and Etsy, ETSY -2.85% these home improvement retailers aren’t much more expensive than they were a year ago. Home Depot and Lowe’s shares trade at roughly 20 times and 18 times forward earnings, respectively, slightly lower than where they were a year ago. A broad basket of retail stocks have gotten more expensive over the same time.

There are also no signs that the housing boom is winding down anytime soon. In January, existing home sales were up 23.7% from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors, and the main limiting factor appears to be a lack of inventory rather than demand. That should keep registers ringing at Home Depot and Lowe’s.