Earth Buddy Question
Can you help me understand this Business question?
1. How many Earth Buddies can Ben expect to produce in one shift?How many if the factory works two shifts?Three shifts?How many if it operates three shifts a day, seven days a week?Which operation is the bottleneck? Are there any process improvements that you could suggest to Ben?
2.If Ben asks his workers to produce at the same rate as the bottleneck operations, what is the utilization rate for each operator?How long will each operator be idle during a shift?What is the average utilization of the total system?
3.On average, how long does it take for a typical Earth Buddy to move through the standard process (assuming a transfer batch of 25 at the fill operation and a three-shift operation)?
4.Anton has just received a large order from Wal-Mart and, while anticipating more orders, has asked Ben to increase production to 4,000 units per day.How should Ben respond if one shift must product the units?Two shifts?
5.Would your response to #4 change if Bens workers were cross-trained and able to switch between jobs when otherwise idle?Which, if any, workers would you cross-train?
6.A good customer has arrived at the factory and just made an urgent request for Ben to produce a special Earth Buddy.A secret ingredient has to be added to the usual grass seed and sawdust mixture.How long will it take to produce a batch of 25 specials?If the customer must leave the factory in 45 minutes, will Ben have his samples ready in time?Assume that one filling machine, one moulder, one eye installer, the painter, and the two packers can be pre-empted as soon as they are required and can be dedicated to the job.
7.Although no longer a serious problem, it was not uncommon in the firms early days to reject 15% of the units.Assuming the defects occurred on or before the filling operation, but were not detected until packing, what was the impact on capacity?Would a special inspection after filling help?
8. Are there any process improvements that you could suggest to Ben?
