AlwaysRain Irrigation, Inc., would like to determine capacity requirements for t

Question

AlwaysRain Irrigation, Inc., would like to determine capacity requirements for the next four years. Currently two production lines are in place for making bronze and plastic sprinklers. Three types of sprinklers are available in both bronze and plastic: 90-degree nozzle sprinklers, 180-degree nozzle sprinklers, and 360-degree nozzle sprinklers. Suppose that AlwaysRain Irrigation's marketing department will undertake an intense ad campaign for the bronze sprinklers, which are more expensive but also more durable than the plastic ones. Forecast demand for the next four years is Yearly Demand 1 (in 000s) 2 (in 000s) 3 (in 000s) 4 (in 000s) Plastic 90 30 36 52 56 Plastic 180 10 14 20 25 Plastic 360 46 56 59 73 Bronze 90 23 30 23 34 Bronze 180 23 25 25 24 Bronze 360 19 26 29 24 Both production lines can produce all the different types of nozzles. The bronze machines needed for the bronze sprinklers require two operators and can produce up to 13,000 sprinklers. The plastic injection molding machine needed for the plastic sprinklers requires four operators and can produce up to 234,000 sprinklers. Three bronze machines and only one injection molding machine are available. Requirement 1: What are the capacity implications of the marketing campaign (assume no learning)? (Round your answers to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your response.) Plastic Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Demand for plastic sprinklers Percentage of capacity used % % % % Machine requirements Labor requirements Bronze Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Demand for bronze sprinklers Percentage of capacity used % % % % Machine requirements Labor requirements Requirement 2: In anticipation of the ad campaign, AlwaysRain bought an additional bronze machine. Will this be enough to ensure that enough capacity is available?

Explanation / Answer

Answer:

For the Bronze machines

Bronze machines: produces 12,000 units

Three machines in a line, 2 lines = 6 total bronze machines at 12,000 units each = 6 * 12,000 = 72,000 bronze units available to be made each year.

So, when the demand in first year for the bronzes is 90,000 + 180,000 + 360,000 = 630,000 you cannot supply all of those demands.

So your bronze capacity per year is 72,000 units and 72,000 * 4 (for years) = 288,000 units may be made in four years.

For the Plastic units

Plastic machines produces 200,000 units per machine. Only one machine per line with 2 lines = 2 total machines for plastic. 200,000 * 2 (machines) = 400,000 units can be made each year.

Over 4 years it can produce, 400,000 * 4 = 1,600,000 total units. The demand in the first year is the same as bronze = 630,000 units. It would be better to break this problem down by each year to see if there is enough capacity to handle the projected demand.

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