Jennifer Kyle formed Kyle Resources, Inc. Jennifer is a microelectronics enginee
ID: 410609 • Letter: J
Question
Jennifer Kyle formed Kyle Resources, Inc. Jennifer is a microelectronics engineer and her stepbrother; Martinez is a carpenter by trade with an MBA from Loyola University. They formed Kyle resources in 1994 as a partnership in order to build their own business. They make dollhouses, but not the typical dollhouses. Their houses have running water and lighting! Through the use of “led” lighting and miniature tubing they have perfected a system that makes the dollhouse similar in many respects to a real house. To avoid water leaking, the tubes that carry water to various parts of the house are made of very strong plastic. The electricals are also put into similar tubes to protect from electric shock. In addition, the dollhouse uses a power transformer and battery system to operate the water pump and all other electricals. The battery is charged when the house is not in use. Hence power to the house is only 9 volts, which does not possess the risks a full 120 volts system would have. Currently, they use a job shop production process. Two employees work in a team. It takes one team to construct one dollhouse using the process described in exhibit 1 and there are four teams of employees. The objectives of Kyle Resources are quite simple, to make a 10% return on sales (NI/Sales) and they want to grow at a rate of 10% per year. Consistent with reaching those objectives, the organization has several process decisions to make that they are asking for your expertise, after all Martinez only went to Loyola.
The exhibit below provides the steps in the process of building a dollhouse. The steps in exhibit 1 indicate the reliability of each step and the time it takes for each step using a job shop process. Jennifer is concerned about the quality and quantity of performance. Particularly, right now she is concerned with improving quality as it seems a trifle low. She thinks that product quality is really hurting her business and wants to do some things about it. Realize that about half the defective units are caught before they are shipped. They take as long to fix as it takes to make a house. A quarter of the defective houses that are shipped come back with the same time to fix and she is paying shipping both ways. Therefore, Jennifer thinks it hurts her profits and customer satisfaction. What is the current system reliability and cycle time?
Please give Jennifer four process changes that might improve quality. Two should clearly demonstrate the use of redundant attachment and two should demonstrate the use of process changes. Calculate the new step reliabilities (when appropriate) and the new system reliabilities to demonstrate the improvements and describe the change to demonstrate that it is a process changes or the use of a redundant attachment
Jennifer thinks we might be able to speed the performance along by having concurrent processes going on at once. Redraw exhibit 1 demonstrating how you could apply concurrent processing so that it will reduce the production cycle time by at least 4 hours. Do this without reducing any time for any of the operations or without reducing the number of steps. Use the format provided for in example presented in the process map module. Warning, make sure the items can be done exactly concurrently and use the format in the Process Management Module, last page.
Exhibit one Kyle Resources StepS StepCalculations of step revisedstep dStep reliabili time Time in reliabilit reliability if needed brs. .3 1-Measure lumber for frame 2-Cut lumber for frame 3-Assemble frames to base 4-Drill holes in frame for 1.00 94 97 95 98 96 90 90 1.0 iping & electrical wirinn 5-Add pipes and electrical .5 6-Add pumps and electrical fixtures 7-Measure material for internal walls 8-Cut internal walls 9-Fit interior walls and assemble on frame 10-Paint internal walls 11-Add pictures to internal walls 12-Cut out holes in internal walls for doors 13-Add doors to internal wall area 14-Measure material for external walls and roof 15-Cut material for external walls and roof 16-Assemble external walls and roof 17-Paint external walls and put on roofing material 18-Cut out external windows and 19-Add external doors and.5 windows 20-Add outdoor lighting .5 .3 .3 91 .85 1.0 .3 .5 .5 .5 .5 82 74 .83 80 75 75 1.5.66 70Explanation / Answer
As per Exhibit one,
Total time taken to build one Dollhouse/team, cycle time=sum of all steps time=10.7 Hrs
As there are four teams working in parallel- in every 10.7 hrs, 4 doll houses will be produced.
For overall system reliability=All reliability factors shall be multiplied together=0.036 ie. out of 100 dollhouses produced only 3.6 or 4 dollhouses will have no isues with quality.
Process changes that Jennifer can use
1. As per current process, Team shall measure and cut first for frame, then internal walls and then external walls. measure and cut process can be done at one go instead of doing it repeatedly
2. As windows and doorways are cut out after assembly of frame on the base; windows and doorways cutout can be done before frame and base assembly. this will increase system reliability
Concurrent Process.
As there are four teams working each team can undertake set of tasks for preparing a single dollhouse. 4 teams will work in parallel in like an assemply line system.
Team I
Team II
Team III
Team IV
Actions taken
Step time
Actions taken
Step time
Actions taken
Step time
Actions taken
Step time
Measure lumber for frame
0.3
Drill holes in frame for piping and electrical wiring
1
Add pictures to internal walls
0.4
Cut out external windows and door ways
1.5
Cut lumber for frame
0.3
Add pipes and electrical wires
0.5
cut out holes in internal walls for doors
1
Add external doors and windows
0.5
measure material for internal walls
0.3
Add pumps and electrical fixtures
0.5
add doors to internal wall area
0.3
add outdoor lightening and fixtures
0.7
Cut internal walls
0.4
Fit interior walls and assemble on frame
0.3
Assemble external walls and roofs
0.5
Measure material for external walls and roof
0.5
paint internal walls
0.3
Paint external walls and put on roofing material
0.5
cut material for external walls and roo
0.5
Assemble frames to base
0.4
Total time for each team
2.7
2.6
2.2
2.7
With Each team performing specific task in parallel, in continuous operation, after every 2.7 hours a new dollhouse can be build instead of 10.7 earlier though now 4 teams are working on the same dollhouse in parallel.
Also, as the team work on the same operation over and over again, according to the learning curve, probability of them making mistakes decreases.
Team I
Team II
Team III
Team IV
Actions taken
Step time
Actions taken
Step time
Actions taken
Step time
Actions taken
Step time
Measure lumber for frame
0.3
Drill holes in frame for piping and electrical wiring
1
Add pictures to internal walls
0.4
Cut out external windows and door ways
1.5
Cut lumber for frame
0.3
Add pipes and electrical wires
0.5
cut out holes in internal walls for doors
1
Add external doors and windows
0.5
measure material for internal walls
0.3
Add pumps and electrical fixtures
0.5
add doors to internal wall area
0.3
add outdoor lightening and fixtures
0.7
Cut internal walls
0.4
Fit interior walls and assemble on frame
0.3
Assemble external walls and roofs
0.5
Measure material for external walls and roof
0.5
paint internal walls
0.3
Paint external walls and put on roofing material
0.5
cut material for external walls and roo
0.5
Assemble frames to base
0.4
Total time for each team
2.7
2.6
2.2
2.7
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