All Steps (A, B, C, D, and E) are necessary to create each finished shirt. Each

Question

All Steps (A, B, C, D, and E) are necessary to create each finished shirt. Each step employs a single worker.

a.       How long does it take for one unit to go through the entire process (assuming no waiting anywhere)?

What is the bottleneck operation in this process?

c. Working eight hours a day, what is the daily capacity of the process?

During the day, what is the average labor utilization of the five workers?

Suppose an extra helper is brought in to help in step D. This brings the time at D down to 2 minutes. What is the impact of this on the daily capacity of the process?

Suppose that instead, the extra helper performs step C separately. So now two workers are performing step D, each taking 4 minutes to produce one unit. What is the impact of this on the daily capacity of the process?

Explanation / Answer

Please find answers to first 5 questions :

Time it takes one unit to go through entire process ( A to E ) = 2 + 1+3 +4 + 2 = 12 minutes

TIME TO GO THROUGH ENTIRE PROCESS = 12 MINUTES

The bottleneck operation is the one having maximum flow rate which is D with flow time of 4 minutes.

D IS THE BOTTLENECK OPERATION

Capacity of the process is determined by the flow rate of the bottleneck process. Therefore capacity of the process is 4 minutes per shirt ( i.e. flow rate of the activity D )

Therefore , daily capacity of the process ( 8 hours a day) = 8 x 60 minutes/ 4 minutes = 120 shirts

WORKING 8 HOURS A DAY , DAILY CAPACITY OF THE PROCESS IS 120 SHIRTS

Average labor utilization of 5 workers

= Sum of 5 activities/ ( 5 x flow rate of the process) x 100

= ( 2 + 1 + 3 + 4 +2 )/ ( 5 x 4 )    x 100

= 12/20 x 100

= 60 %

AVERAGE LABOR UTILIZATION OF 5 WORKERS = 60 %

When extra helper is brought to help in step D which brings the time at D down to 2 minutes, the new bottleneck activity ( with maximum time of 3 minutes) is C.

Thus new processing capacity of the whole process as such ( as determined by the bottleneck activity) = 3 minutes/ shirt

Therefore , daily capacity of the process = 8 x 60 minutes/ 3 minutes = 160 shirts

DAILY CAPACITY OF THE PROCESS = 160 SHIRTS

TIME TO GO THROUGH ENTIRE PROCESS = 12 MINUTES

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse A
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.