Efficiency of Bi-Directionally Traversed Machines

This paper solves the problem of finding the effective rate of production of a group of N machines, cared for by one operative, whose method of working is to patrol the machines, first in one direction until all the machines have been inspected, and then in the reverse direction, and so on. The time taken to walk from one machine to the next, and then inspect and service that machine is the same for all machines, and is referred to as the walking time. If a machine has broken down then the operative must spend an additional constant repair time putting it in order before proceeding to the next machine.