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Difficulty: HardEliminating One-Sided Explanations

At the Apex Manufacturing plant, management recently replaced all cutting equipment on both Floor A and Floor B with identical new X-200 automated cutting machines. In the month following the upgrade, the amount of material waste produced on Floor A decreased by 30 percent compared to the previous month. However, during the exact same period, the amount of material waste produced on Floor B, which cuts the exact same materials to produce the exact same products, increased by 50 percent.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?

  1. A
    The vibration generated by the new X-200 machines loosens the alignment brackets specific to the raised platforms on Floor B, causing frequent cutting errors.
  2. Prior to the upgrade, Floor A utilized error-prone manual labor for its cutting tasks, whereas Floor B utilized older, highly precise laser cutters that the X-200 replaced solely to increase production speed.Answer
  3. C
    Floor B processes a significantly larger total volume of materials than Floor A, meaning its 50 percent increase in waste represents a larger absolute number of defective pieces.
  4. D
    The raw materials allocated to Floor B are known to be far more uniform and significantly easier for automated machines to process accurately than the materials allocated to Floor A.
  5. E
    The managers on Floor A instituted a rigorous new sorting protocol concurrently with the machine upgrade, which independently drastically reduces the likelihood of material misfeeds.

Answer

The correct answer states that prior to the upgrade, Floor A used error-prone manual labor while Floor B used older, highly precise laser cutters.
The correct answer provides a unified historical context that explains both divergent outcomes. The paradox arises because identical new machines produced opposite results on two identical production lines. By revealing that the floors started from vastly different baselines—Floor A using inaccurate manual labor and Floor B using highly accurate laser cutters—the introduction of the X-200 machines logically results in an improvement for Floor A and a degradation for Floor B.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the two conflicting premises in the stimulus.
Premise A: Waste on Floor A decreased by 30%. Premise B: Waste on Floor B increased by 50%. Both floors received identical new machines and process identical materials.
Understanding the exact parameters of the paradox is required to evaluate potential resolutions.
2
Determine the criteria for a successful resolution.
The correct answer must explain BOTH why Floor A's performance improved AND why Floor B's performance worsened following the exact same equipment upgrade.
An explanation that only accounts for one floor's change is incomplete and falls into a one-sided explanation trap.
3
Evaluate the answer choices against the established criteria.
Only the correct answer establishes a bridge by showing that the two floors had different starting baselines before the upgrade, meaning the new machines represented an upgrade in precision for Floor A but a downgrade in precision for Floor B.
This single piece of new information perfectly reconciles both halves of the apparent discrepancy.

Key Concept

Eliminating One-Sided Explanations
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Topics

Eliminating One-Sided Explanations

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