So, how did we get on with the coin game activity?  What did we observe?

During the first round with a batch of 10, we'll have noticed that nine people were sitting around doing nothing, while one person flipped coins.

During the second round, with the batches of four then six, we'll have observed that both batches were faster than the batch of 10. We'll also have seen that the batch of four moved faster than the batch of six. If the batch of six had been played first, it would have slowed the batch of four down to its pace.

After the third round, we'll have noticed that, as the batch size comes down, the time to complete the work speeds up quite dramatically. That's because the utilization of every person in the line increases as we reduce the batch size.

We've optimized the system for the coin game; now it's time to discuss the theory.