Master of Science Industrial and Systems Engineering
IE5107 Material Flow Systems
KIRSTEN COOKIE COMPANY
(CASE STUDY SOLUTION)
FLOW PROCESS CHART:
(CAPACITY: 3 DOZEN)
ORDER RECEIPT & REPLYADDING OF INGREDIENTS IN BOWL & MIXING IN ELECTRIC MIXER
BY: SELF; TIME: 6 mins
BY: ROOMMATE; TIME: 1min
(CAPACITY: 1 DOZEN)
PLACING THE COOKIES IN THE OVENSPOONING OF COOKIES ON THE TRAY
COOKIE BAKING BY: ROOMMATE; TIME: 0 MINS BY: SELF; TIME: 2 mins
BY: OVEN; TIME: 10 mins
REMOVING COOKIES FROM THE OVEN COOLING OF COOKIE
BY: ROOMMATE; TIME: 0 mins TIME: 5 mins
PACKING
BY: ROOMMATE; TIME: 2 mins
RECEIPT OF PAYMENT
BY: ROOMMATE; TIME: 1 min
1) HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE YOU TO FILL A RUSH ORDER?
SOLUTION: Assume that the order is for 1 dozen of cookies then:
ACTIVITY RESPONSIBILITY TIME ( in mins)
Order receipt and reply Roommate 1
Mixing of ingredients Self 6
Spooning of cookies Self 2
Placing cookies in oven Roommate 0
Cookie Baking Oven 10
Removing cookies from oven Roommate 0
Cooling - 5
Packing Roommate 2
Receipt of Payment Roommate 1
Therefore, the minimum time to fill a rush order = 1+6+2+10+5+2+1= 27 mins
Case Study Submitted By Hitasha Sandhu, Pethusamy Muthuraama Krishnan and Singaravelu Senthilkumar
Master of Science Industrial and Systems Engineering
IE5107 Material Flow Systems
2) HOW MANY ORDERS CAN YOU FILL IN A NIGHT, ASSUMING YOU ARE OPEN 4
HOURS EACH NIGHT?
SOLUTION: As it can be seen from the table used in Q1 that the roommate does most of the
activities and I myself perform only two basic activities of mixing the ingredients and spooning
the cookies.
So, overlapping of orders or cookies batches (per dozen) can be done i.e. I myself can start
with the processing of next lot of cookies, while my roommate completes the remaining
activities of the previous lot of cookies. The following table shows the time duration for
completing cookie orders by overlapping (assuming each order is of 1 dozen cookies):
ORDER SIZE ORDER COMPLETION TIME
1 Dozen 27 mins
2 Dozen 37 mins
3 Dozen 47 mins
4 Dozen 57 mins
5 Dozen 67 mins
6 Dozen 77 mins
7 Dozen 87 mins
8 Dozen 97 mins
9 Dozen 107 mins
10 Dozen 117 mins
11 Dozen 127 mins
12 Dozen 137mins
13Dozen 147 mins
14 Dozen 157 mins
15 Dozen 167 mins
16 Dozen 177 mins
17 Dozen 187 mins
18 Dozen 197 mins
19 Dozen 207 mins
20 Dozen 217 mins
21 Dozen 227 mins
22 Dozen 237 mins
As it can be seen from the above table, the maximum orders that can be filled in a night,
assuming that the operating time is 4 hours (240 mins) = 22 dozen of cookies or 22 Orders
(assuming per order is for per dozen of cookies).
Also, from the table a formula can be generalized. If ‘n’ is the per dozen of cookie ordered,
then the time take for completing the order is:
17 + 10n mins
(The graph shows the batch overlapping procedure and time consumed)
Case Study Submitted By Hitasha Sandhu, Pethusamy Muthuraama Krishnan and Singaravelu Senthilkumar
Master of Science Industrial and Systems Engineering
IE5107 Material Flow Systems
3) HOW MUCH OF YOUR OWN & YOUR ROOMMATES VALUABLE TIME TAKES TO FILL
EACH ORDER?
SOLUTION: Assume that the maximum order is that of 3 dozen of cookies at a time then:
For Self:
ACTIVITY TIME (in mins)
Mixing of Ingredients ( Irrespective of no. of cookies) 6
Spooning of cookies 2
NO. OF COOKIES TIME TAKEN ( in mins)
1 dozen 6+2= 8 mins
2 dozen 6+2+2= 10 mins
3 dozen 6+2+2+2=12 mins
For Roommate:
ACTIVITY TIME ( in mins)
Order receipt & reply ( Irrespective of no. of cookies) 1
Packing 2
Receipt of payment ( Irrespective of no. of cookies) 1
NO. OF COOKIES TIME TAKEN ( in mins)
1 dozen 1+2+1 = 4 mins
2 dozen 1+2+2+1 = 6 mins
3 dozen 1+2+2+2+1 = 8 mins
4) HOW MANY ELECTRIC MIXTURES AND BAKING TRAYS WILL YOU NEED?
SOLUTION:
a) As can be seen from the flow process diagram, the electric mixer is used only at one
stage and has a maximum capacity of 3 dozens. It is idle most of the times. So, 1
electric mixture should be sufficient to meet all kind of order demands.
b) On the other hand, the oven has a capacity of only 1 tray (1 dozen cookies) at a time
and is used for the maximum time in the whole process. So, it is the real bottleneck in
the process.
c) Tray is used for three purposes in a process:
a. Spooning
b. Baking
c. Cooling
Case Study Submitted By Hitasha Sandhu, Pethusamy Muthuraama Krishnan and Singaravelu Senthilkumar
Master of Science Industrial and Systems Engineering
IE5107 Material Flow Systems
d) So, it can be seen that 3 trays will be sufficient at a time to fulfill the maximum order of
three dozen cookies at a time. (For this, proper synchronization will need to be made
between the various processing stages).
e) If the cost of the tray is very less (no inventory cost) and if we ever need to keep the
oven to wait for next tray will not be reasonable. It is advisable to have plenty of trays
if cost is not a barrier.
f) Hence, the following no. of each resource is required:
a. Electric Mixer: 1
b. Baking Trays: 3
Case Study Submitted By Hitasha Sandhu, Pethusamy Muthuraama Krishnan and Singaravelu Senthilkumar
