Glam Co is a hairdressing salon which provides both ‘cuts’ and ‘treatments’ to clients. Al

l cuts and treatments at the salon are carried out by one of the salon’s three senior stylists. The salon also has two salon assistants and two junior stylists.

Every customer attending the salon is first seen by a salon assistant, who washes their hair; next, by a senior stylist, who cuts or treats the hair depending on which service the customer wants; then finally, a junior stylist who dries their hair. The average length of time spent with each member of staff is as follows:

The salon is open for eight hours each day for six days per week. It is only closed for two weeks each year. Staff salaries are $40,000 each year for senior stylists, $28,000 each year for junior stylists and $12,000 each year for the assistants. The cost of cleaning products applied when washing the hair is $0·60 per client. The cost of all additional products applied during a ‘treatment’ is $7·40 per client. Other salon costs (excluding labour and raw materials) amount to $106,400 each year.

Glam Co charges $60 for each cut and $110 for each treatment.

The senior stylists’ time has been correctly identified as the bottleneck activity.

Required:

(a) Briefly explain why the senior stylists’ time has been described as the ‘bottleneck activity’, supporting your answer with calculations. (4 marks)

(b) Calculate the throughput accounting ratio (TPAR) for ‘cuts’ and the TPAR for ‘treatments’ assuming the bottleneck activity is fully utilised. (6 marks)