The final assembly of electric generators at Electro is produced at the

Poisson rate of 10 generators per hour. The generators are then conveyed on a belt to the inspection department for final testing. The belt can hold a maximum of 7 generators. An electronic sensor will automatically stop the conveyor once it is

full, preventing the final assembly department from assembling more units until a space becomes available. The time to inspect the generators is exponential, with a mean of 15 minutes.

a. What is the probability that the final assembly department will stop

production?

b. What is the average number of generators on the conveyor belt?

c. The production engineer claims that interruptions in the assembly department

can be reduced by increasing the capacity of the belt. In fact, the engineer claims

that the capacity can be increased to the point where the assembly department can operate 95% of the time without interruption. Is this claim justifiable?