The milling machine at Merlotte’s Manufacturing was excessively loaded last year

Question

The milling machine at Merlotte’s Manufacturing was excessively loaded last year. The company operates a one 8 hour shift per day (and 5 days per week, and 50 weeks per year). The owner, Mark Merlotte, wants to have a capacity cushion of 20 percent. Two types of products are routed through the milling machine. The annual demand for product A is 4000 units and 3000 units for product B. The batch size for A is 20 units and 30 units for B. The standard processing time for A is 0.5 hours/unit and 0.8 for B. The standard setup time for product A is 2 hours and 8 hours for product B. How many new milling machines are needed if the owner does not resort to any short-term capacity options? Justify your answer and discuss the company’s alternatives in detail including the effects of the preferred number of machines on the capacity cushion.

Explanation / Answer

Owner wants to have a capacity cushion of 20%. therefore, they need to plan for demand plus 20% of demand.

Units of A along with capacity cushion = 4000*1.2 = 4800

Units of B along with capacity cushion = 3000*1.2 = 3600

No of batches required to produce A = 4800/20 = 240

No of batches required to produce B = 3600/30 =120

Set up time for A = 2 hrs

Setup time for 240 batches = 240*2= 480hrs

Setup time for B = 8 hours

Setup time for 120 batches = 120*8 = 960 hours

Total setup time = 480+960 = 1440 hours

Processing Time for A = 4800*.5 = 2400 hours

Processing time for B = 3600*0.8 = 2880 hours

Total hours = 1440+2400+2880 = 6720 hours

Number of hours company operates = 8*5*50 = 2000 hours

Number of machines required = 6720/2000 = 3.36 =~4 (rounding up)

There fore, 4 machine are required

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse T
• Subjects

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