Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

To begin, consider the three-step process model in the Process 1 tab. The process is staffed by three
workers: Alice is assigned to step A, Bob is assigned to step B, and Charlie is assigned to step C. Please
answer the questions below.

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1. What is the bottleneck of this process?

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2. What is the cycle time of this process?

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3. What is the capacity of this process?

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4. What is the throughput time for a rush order (that is, an order arriving when the system is empty that
is moved through the process without delay)?
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5. What is the labor utilization of each worker?

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6. What is the average labor utilization of the workers?

Answer:

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Now that you have finished Process 1, consider the same process, but assume we assign Betty, an
additional worker to a step B. Betty and Bob are equally qualified, and they are told to split the work of
step B (working simultaneously to complete the 5 minutes of work on a unit in half that time).

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7.
Before doing any calculations, which process metrics would you expect to change relative to Process 1?
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8. What is the bottleneck of this process?

Answer:

9. What is the cycle time of this process?

Answer:

10. What is the capacity of this process?

Answer:

11. What is the throughput time for a rush order (that is, an order arriving when the system is empty
that is moved through the process without delay)?

Answer:

12. What is the labor utilization of each worker?

Answer:

13. What is the average labor utilization of the workers?

Answer:

14.
What have you learned?
Answer:

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Look at Process 3, a variant of Process 1 (3 workers, Alice does step A, Bob step B and Charlie step C),
but assume that steps A and B can be completed in parallel as shown in the diagram below (by in
parallel, we mean that Alice can work on her component at the same time as Bob works on his
component. For example, Alice could be finishing a table top at the same time Bob is finishing the four
legs and Charlie could be assembling the table by attaching the legs to the table top).

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15.
Before doing any calculations, which process metrics would you expect to change relative to Process 1?
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16. What is the bottleneck of this process?

Answer:

17. What is the cycle time of this process?

Answer:

18. What is the capacity of this process?

Answer:

19. What is the throughput time for a rush order (that is, an order arriving when the system is empty
that is moved through the process without delay)?
Answer:

20. What is the labor utilization of each worker?

Answer:

21. What is the average labor utilization of the workers?

Answer:

22.
What have you learned?
Answer:

Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

To begin, consider the four-step process model in the Process 1 tab.

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1. Calculate the amount of time it would take to get a rush order through the process.
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2. Calculate the capacity of the process.

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3. Calculate the labor content of the process.

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4. Calculate the average labor utilization.

Answer:

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For Process 2, assume that you have hired an additional worker (i.e., a fifth for the process). This new
worker is cross-trained at every step in the process (can perform any of the 4 steps or any portion of any
of the four steps). Inventory is permitted between steps so that the cross-trained worker can move
around freely. Assume no transportation time in moving from one step to another.

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5. At which step(s) does the worker spend the majority of his or her time?
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6.
What is the impact on performance?
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For Process 3, you have the opportunity to send each of your four specialists to get additional training in
the other process steps. As a result of this training program, you will have five workers available to you,
each one cross-trained at each of the four process steps.

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7.
What benefits do you expect as a result of this additional training?
Answer:

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Go to Process 4, a variant of Process 1. Your analysis was done with the assumption that no inventory
would be allowed to build up between steps. Answer these questions without that assumption.

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8.
How would performance change if this restriction were relaxed? That is, what would be the impact of
allowing inventory to accumulate between steps?
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Q3)- Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

Consider the following process in the Process 1 tab. All steps (A, B, C, D) are necessary to create each
finished unit. Each step employs a single worker who is not cross-trained for any other step. The
processing times listed represent the amount of time each worker spends on a single unit. There is no
variability in processing times.

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1. What is the fastest that a rush order can go through the process?
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2. Working 8 hours a day, what is the daily capacity?

Answer:

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For the next two questions, consider a fifth step added to the process, along with a fifth worker. The
fifth step, Step E, is done after Step C, and before Step D, as drawn in simulate part 2. All steps (A, B, C,
D, E) are necessary to create each finished unit. Processing times are shown for each process step.

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3. What is the fastest that a rush order can go through the process?
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4. Working 8 hours a day, what is the daily capacity?

Answer:

Q4) - Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

Consider the following three-step worker-paced line in the Process 1 tab. Each step employs a single
worker who is not cross-trained for any other step. The set-up represents the amount of time the
worker spends setting up the machine for each batch. No units can be processed during set-up. The run
time represents the amount of time it takes the worker to process a single unit. When a worker
completes a batch, he or she hands it off to the next stage.

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1. If only 10-unit batches are produced, what is the average capacity of the process per 8-hour day?
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2. At what batch size does the bottleneck move? That is, at what batch size are there two steps that are
the bottleneck?
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Q5)
Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

Consider the six-step process in the Process 1 tab where the processing time for each step is uniformly
distributed, for which processing times can range from 12 to 18 minutes (any value in that range is as
likely to occur as any other in that range)

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1.
If inventory were permitted to accumulate throughout this process, what impact would you expect on
capacity (as compared to the process without inventory)?
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2. If you could add one inventory buffer, where would you add it to maximize capacity?
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3. If you added a second unit of buffer to the same location as the first, what would be the incremental
impact on capacity of the second unit as compared to the first unit?
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6Q)- Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

Consider the four-step worker paced line in the Process 1 tab. Each step employs a single worker who is
not cross-trained for any other step. The processing times listed represent the amount of time each
worker spends on a single unit. There is no variability in processing times. Assume that all workers
begin to work on the next unit as soon as they can.

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1. Assume that inventory is not permitted to accumulate, i.e., a unit cannot be passed to the next stage
until the worker receiving the unit is ready for it. What is the capacity of the process?
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2. If inventory were allowed to accumulate in this process, where would it accumulate?

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3.
If inventory were allowed to accumulate, how would capacity be affected?
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4.
If inventory were allowed to accumulate, how would average throughput time be affected?
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From this point forward, assume that inventory is not permitted to accumulate, and that work cannot be
passed to the next stage until the worker receiving the unit is ready.

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5. If a fifth worker were added to the process, what would the maximum capacity be? Assume that you
can add the fifth worker to any one of the four tasks, that the worker is not cross-trained to do any of
the other tasks, and that the fifth worker works at the same rate as the original worker doing that task.
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6.
Instead, if a fifth worker who was cross-trained for all tasks were added to the process, what would the
new capacity be? Assume that this fifth worker incurs no travel time in moving between steps. Compare
the labor utilization of the worker at Step 1 in the original situation (four workers, no inventory) and this
situation. How does it change?
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7Q)- Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

Krunchy Kreme, in making its famous doughnuts, begins with the three-step process shown in Process 1.
One dedicated worker mixes the dough and creates the doughnut shape from it. Batches of doughnuts
from the Shaping stage are processed in one of two identical machines in the third step, staffed by one
worker each. (Ignore the remaining steps in the process, such as frying and packing, because they have
ample capacity.) Assume that all setups are done by the workers. A setup must be performed in each
step of the process before every batch. Also, assume that each worker is busy during the run time of his
or her operation.

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1. Suppose that batch size is 50 doughnuts. What is the capacity in an eight-hour day?
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2. What is the average utilization of these four workers?

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3. If Krunchy Kreme decides to change batch sizes, for what range of batch sizes is mixing the
bottleneck?
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8Q)Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

For the processes in this assignment we will explicitly account for variability in process times, with those
process times distributed according to a uniform distribution. Thus, a process time of 5 1 minutes/unit
indicates that there is equal probability that the process (machine or person) will have a process time of
anywhere from four to six minutes/unit. There are no set ups.

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1.
Consider an eight-workstation in-series line, with all workstation processing times at 5 1 minutes per
unit. Allocate 22 units of buffer capacity to this line so as to maximize average output. The best such
allocation is characterized by?
Answer:

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For the rest of this part, consider four different production lines consisting of in-series workstations with
no buffers between stations. The numbers under each workstation represent the process time per unit,
in minutes.

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2. Assuming that Line A has been operating for a while, the expected capacity of Line A is
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3. Comparing the utilization of Machine A2 of Line A to that of Machine B3 of Line B,

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4. Comparing the capacity of Line B to that of Line C,

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5. Comparing the capacity of Line C to that of Line D,

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9Q )- Your Assignment

Please read the questions below and fill your answers in the spaces provided.

Imagine a three-workstation worker-paced line with task times 7, 6, and 8 minutes, respectively. In the
previous problems, a 100% yield was assumed i.e., no defects. The present problem will explicitly
consider the impact of nonzero defect rates. In particular, assume that the first workstation has an 8%
defect rate and that the second workstation has a 12% defect rate. The third workstation, in contrast,
generates no defects. For problems 1 to 4, assume that all defective units are scrapped.

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1. What is the capacity of this process?

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2. Where is the bottleneck?

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3.
Is the utilization of the bottleneck step 100%? If so, why? If not, why not?
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4. What is the yield of the process (the ratio of good finished product to items started in the process)?
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Now assume that the second workstation feeds its defects to a rework station that performs a delicate
and lengthy task of disassembling the product and repairing it. Thus, it requires a relatively long time
(here, 40 minutes on average) to fix defects. There is an inventory buffer in front of this rework step to
accommodate for the unlikely case that there are several defects in a row. While time-consuming, it still
is successful only 90% of the time. When rework is successful, the rework station passes the now-good
unit to the third workstation in the line. If it is not successful, the product is scrapped.

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The third workstation, receiving reworked units, now has an average task time of 9 minutes.

5. What is the capacity of this process?

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6. Where is the bottleneck?

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7.
Is the utilization of the bottleneck step 100%? If so, why? If not, why not?
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8. What is the yield of the process (the ratio of good finished product to items started in the process)?
Answer: