Customer demand is 120 units per week.

To determine the required production rate, we first need to calculate the total available production time per week and then divide it by the weekly demand.

Calculate the total available production time per day:

Total shift time per day = 9 hours

Breaks: ½ hour lunch + 2 × 15 minutes coffee breaks = 1 hour

Net production time per day = 9 hours - 1 hour = 8 hours

Convert hours to minutes: 8 hours × 60 minutes/hour = 480 minutes

Calculate the total available production time per week:

Total minutes per day = 480 minutes

Number of working days per week = 5 days

Total available production time per week = 480 minutes/day × 5 days/week = 2400 minutes/week

Calculate the required cycle time to meet demand:

Weekly demand = 120 units

Required cycle time = Total available production time per week / Weekly demand

Required cycle time = 2400 minutes / 120 units = 20 minutes/unit

Thus, to meet the customer demand, production must occur at the rate of one unit every 20 minutes. References:

Stevenson, W. J. (2021). Operations Management. McGraw-Hill Education.

Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2020). Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management. Pearson.