PROCESS ANALYSIS BASICS

Flow Unit The ‘item’ or ‘thing’ undergoing the process. Can be a living being.

Lot size Also known as Batch size. The number of units in a given lot (batch).

Labour content of a resource: also known as Processing time. The average time taken
by a resource to process the unit. Can vary from unit to unit, also
depends upon type of the item processed.
of the process: the total of the labour contents of the individual
resources used to process the flow unit.

Makespan of the lot: The duration of time required to complete the processing of all
the units in a given lot from start to end.

Cycle Time of the process: the average time that elapses between two consecutive units
completing the process.

Takt Time of the process: the maximum permissible cycle time, if the demand placed
on the process has to be met.

Set up Time of a resource (machine): also known as Changeover time. The time it for a
machine to unload the jigs, fixtures, tools or dies used to process a given
product (X) and then load the jigs, fixtures, tools or dies needed for the next
product (Y) is refered to as the Set up time for product Y. In some cases,
the Set up time is specified for the combination X-Y, not just Y.

Flow Time of a unit going through process: also known as Lead time. The time it takes
for the flow unit to move from the start to the end of the process. It
includes the waiting times experienced by the flow unit at the start of, and
between all the seps of the process.

Flow Rate of the process: the number of flow units that complete the process per unit
time.

Capacity of a given resource / of the process: Maximum flow rate possible at the
resource / in the process.

Bottleneck a resource on which, the demand placed exceeds the capacity.

Implied Utilization of a resource: The proportion (or, %) of time that a resource would
need to be busy if it has to handle the demand placed on it.

Utilization of a resource: The proportion (or, %) of time that a resource is actually

busy.

Efficiency of a process: also known as line efficiency. The ratio of the total of the
times spent working by the resources and the total of the times available to
the resources for doing work, over a given period.

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1. Nature’s Nurture is a medium scale manufacturing company that makes leaf cups
and plates in various sizes for consuming food and beverages. One of its pressure
punching machines is available for 8 hours a day, with a 30 min break for lunch and
two 15 min breaks for tea, taken in between. Four products are assigned to be
processed at this machine throughout the year. It has been decided to make each
product, each day, in a quantity equal to its average demand. The average daily
demands, the set up times and the unit processing times of the products are as
follows:

Set up Average Unit

Product time Daily processing
(min) Demand time (sec)

A 15 600 8

B 10 750 12

C 20 800 9

D 15 500 12

The shopfloor norm followed is that a product can be set up for production only
once a day and the sequence of production is always A–B–C–D.

a) Is it possible to meet the average daily demand for all products in the time
available? Why or why not?
b) If the machine can be scheduled to work overtime, then, how much overtime is
necessary to meet the demand?
c) If it is possible to reduce the setup times for all the products by the same
proportion, then what must this proportion be at least, to be able to meet
demand without using overtime?
d) By applying the SMED methodology, the setup time can be reduced
significantly. It has been decided to systematically reduce all the four setup
times such that i) they are equal to each other ii) the daily demand is produced
in two equal size batches of each product, instead of just one and iii) no
overtime is used. What should the new set up time for a product be at most?

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2. Jaiswal Binders has a line flow process, in which a book undergoes binding in
three stages. The demand is 8 units/hr.

Processing
Time Number of
Stages
[min/unit/ workers
worker]
Trimming 10 2
Pinning 6 1
Glueing 16 3

a) What is the takt time of the process in min?

b) What are the resource and process capacities in units/hr?
c) Is there a bottleneck? If yes, where? If no, why?
d) What is the flow rate in units/hr?
e) What is the utilization of each resource?

3. RGB Studio offers both individual and group portraits. The process flow diagram
shows that all customers must first register and then pay at one of two cashiers.
Then, they go to a studio for the portrait. Finally, the finished portrait is verified
and received.

Cashier A
(3 min)

Registration Random Portrait Studio

Pick up portrait
(2 min) 50% Ind: 5 min
(1 min)
Grp: 8 min

Cashier b
(4 min)

a) What is the minimum time needed to complete the entire process for a group
portrait? For an individual portrait?
b) If the average demand is 4 group portraits and 10 individual portraits per hour,
what are the implied utilizations of the resources?
c) Is there a bottleneck(s) in the process? Where?
d) What can be done to resolve the bottleneck? How will doing that affect the
other resources?

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4. Kiran Jams operates a line flow process consisting of five machines that run eight
hours a day. The process works on the production of three 100 gm jam SKUs –
Mango, Apple and Orange – whose daily demands are 40, 50 and 60 units and unit
contributions are Rs. 10, Rs. 8 and Rs. 12 respectively. Relevant data is as follows.

Processing Time [min/unit/worker]

Resource Workers
Mango Jam Apple Jam Orange Jam
1 2 5 5 5
2 2 3 4 5
3 1 7 4 2
4 1 0 3 3
5 2 6 6 6

a) Is there a bottleneck, and if yes, which resource(s)?

b) It is necessary that the outputs are in the same ratio as the demand. How many
units of each Jam should be made?
c) If that much output is made, how much are the respective resources utilized?
d) Nitesh Ram, the manager is considering engaging a part-time worker to boost
Resource 3 at the rate of Rs. 400 for four hours a day. Is that a good idea?
Why?

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5. CC Car Wash specializes in car cleaning services. The services offered by the
company, the exact service time, and the resources needed for each of them are
described in the table below:

Service
Service Description Resources Used
Time
Exterior car washing and 1 automated
A. Washing 10 min.
drying washing machine
Exterior cleaning and 1 automated waxing
B. Waxing waxing of the car 10 min.
machine
Detailed cleaning of all
C. Wheel cleaning 7 min. 1 employee
wheels
Detailed cleaning inside the
D. Interior cleaning 20 min. 1 employee
car

The company offers the following packages to its customers:

 Package 1: Includes only car wash (Service A).
 Package 2: Includes car wash and waxing (Services A and B).
 Package 3: Car wash, waxing, and wheel cleaning (Services A, B, and C).
 Package 4: All four services (A, B, C, and D).
Customers of CC Car Wash visit the station at a constant rate (ignore effects of
variability) of 40 customers per day. Of these, 40%, 15% 15% and 30% buy
Packages 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The mix does not change over the course of the
day. The store operates 12 hours a day.
a. What is the implied utilization of the employee doing the wheel cleaning
service?
b. Which resource has the highest implied utilization? Is it a bottleneck?

CC Car Wash anticipates an increase in demand to 80 customers per day during the
upcoming summer. It also expects a change in the mix of packages demanded to
30%, 10%, 10% and 50% respectively. The company will install an additional
washing machine to do service A.
c. Will the bottleneck change? If yes to what?
d. How many customers a day cannot be served? Which customers are going to
wait? Explain your reasoning.

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6. Nightcafe After an “all night” study session the day before their last final exam,
four first-year MBA students decide to stop for some much-needed coffee at the
campus Nightcafe. They arrive at 7:30 a.m. and are dismayed to find a rather long
line.
A Nightcafe executive happens to be in the line directly in front of them. From her,
they learn the following facts about this Nightcafe location:
I. There are three employee types:
 A single cashier who takes all orders, prepares non-beverage food items,
grinds coffee, and pours drip coffee.
 A single frozen drink maker who prepares blended and iced drinks.
 A single espresso drink maker who prepares espressos, lattes, and steamed
drinks.
II. There are typically four types of customers:
 Drip coffee customers order only drip coffee. This requires 20 seconds of
the cashier’s time to pour the coffee.
 Blended and iced drink customers order a drink that requires the use of
the blender. These drinks take on average 2 minutes of work of the frozen
drink maker.
 Espresso drink customers order a beverage that uses espresso and/or
steamed milk. On average, these drinks require 1 minute of work of the
espresso drink maker.
 Ground coffee customers buy one of Nightcafe’ many varieties of whole
bean coffee and have it ground to their specification at the store. This
requires a total of 1 minute of the cashier’s time (20 seconds to pour the
coffee and 40 seconds to grind the whole bean coffee).
III. The customers arrive uniformly at the following rates from 7 a.m. (when the
store opens) until 10 a.m. (when the morning rush is over), with no customers
arriving after 10 a.m.:
 Drip coffee customers: 25 per hour.
 Blended and iced drink customers: 20 per hour.
 Espresso drink customers: 70 per hour.
 Ground coffee customers: 5 per hour.
IV. Each customer spends, on average, 20 seconds with the cashier to order and
pay.
V. Approximately 25 percent of all customers order food, which requires an
additional 20 seconds of the cashier’s time per transaction.

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While waiting in line, the students reflect on these facts and with the concepts they
just studied they reflect on the following questions:
a. What is the implied utilization of the frozen drink maker?
b. Which resource has the highest implied utilization? Is it a bottleneck?

From their conversation with the executive, the students learn that Nightcafe is
considering a promotion of all scones (half price!), which, marketing surveys predict
will increase the percentage of customers ordering food to 30 percent (the overall
arrival rates of customers will not change). However, the executive is worried about
how this will affect the waiting times for customers.
c. How do the levels of implied utilization change as a response to this
promotion?