The manufacturing process has three operations:
1) Processing one unit at a time on one of three identical machines for 4 minutes each
2) Heat treating 100 units in a furnace for 2.5 hours plus 10 minutes setup between batches
3) Finishing one unit at a time on a machine with twin workstations in 2 minutes each
The bottleneck is Operation 2, the heat treating furnace. The maximum production rate and throughput time depends on the bottleneck operation. The ideal batch size for Operation 2 should minimize work in process inventory.
The manufacturing process has three operations:
1) Processing one unit at a time on one of three identical machines for 4 minutes each
2) Heat treating 100 units in a furnace for 2.5 hours plus 10 minutes setup between batches
3) Finishing one unit at a time on a machine with twin workstations in 2 minutes each
The bottleneck is Operation 2, the heat treating furnace. The maximum production rate and throughput time depends on the bottleneck operation. The ideal batch size for Operation 2 should minimize work in process inventory.
A manufacturing process consists of three operations. Operation 1 is processed on the machine by
processing one unit at a time. The processing time of a unit is 4 minutes. There are three identical machines available for this purpose and a part can be processed on any of the available machine. Operation 2 consists of a heat treatment operation which is done using a furnace. In this furnace, 100 units can be loaded at a time. The time required to process these parts is 2 hours and 30 minutes, regardless of the number of parts loaded in a batch. Also after every batch is completed there is a setup time of 10 minutes for the next batch. Operation 3 consists of finishing operation. There is only one machine available for this purpose, but the machine has twin workstations. While the operator is setting up (unloading, cleaning, and reloading) a part on one workstation, the processing can happen to the earlier loaded part on the other work station. The actual machining time for a part is only 2 minutes. Unloading a finished part takes 30 seconds and reloading a part for machining (including intermediate cleaning) takes another 30 seconds. Assume that after finishing the part on one workstation, the machine immediately processes the part on other workstation if is loaded. A part has to be processed on all operations in the sequence of Operation 1, Operation 2, and Operation 3. Which is the bottleneck operation? What is the maximum production rate that can be using this setup? Assuming that at any given time, there are 300 parts in the shop floor, what is the throughput time? What should be the ideal batch size (load) for the batch processor so as to minimize the work in process inventory? Exercise 2 Consider a three operation flowshop. Operation 1 requires 3.5 minutes to produce one part. There are two identical machines for that operation and any machine can process one part at a time in 3.5 minutes. Each machine is manned by 1 person. Operation 2 is a batch processor. The batch processor does not require any set up. The capacity of a batch is maximum 90 parts at a time. One batch takes 3 hours to complete irrespective of the size of the batch. The batch processor requires two people to operate and monitor it. Operation 3 is an inspection bench manned by 4 inspectors. All inspectors are equally skilled. A part can be inspected by 1 person at a time and take 4 minutes to complete the inspection. The direct labour cost is Rs. 25000 per worker per month. Assume 26 working days in a month and 2 shifts per day. Each shift has an actual 9 hour working time. Answer the following: • Identify the bottleneck operation. • Calculate the average monthly capacity of the system. • If the average work in process inventory is 300 parts, calculate the average throughput time. • Calculate the direct labour cost per unit. • If some process changes are carried out at the batch processor which will limit the maximum capacity of the batch processor to 80 parts, but will take only 2 hours to process a batch, will it increase the average output of the system. If yes, what will be the new average monthly capacity? Exercise 3 A process consists of two operations – Heat Treatment and Grinding. Heat Treatment is carried out on one batch processor. There are three identical machines dedicated for Grinding operation. The Batch Processor for Heat Treatment can process maximum 150 parts at a time and 3 hours are required for the actual operation, irrespective of the number of parts loaded. Time to prepare a batch for the Batch Processor consists of two parts - Fixed time (irrespective of the number of parts) is 30 minutes, and Loading time - 10 seconds per part. Preparation of a batch is done off-line, meaning that it is possible to prepare the next batch even when the earlier batch is being processed in the Batch Processor. The Grinding operation requires 4 minutes per part. Additionally, after every 10 parts, a ‘dressing’ of grinding wheel is required which requires 3 minutes (Hint: this is some kind of set-up time). Identify the bottleneck operation. What is the production rate of the system? What is the work-in-process that should be allowed for most efficient operating? The company plans to buy one more batch processor of capacity maximum 50 parts and one more grinding machine exactly similar to the existing grinding machine. The smaller capacity batch processor will have a processing time of 90 minutes irrespective of the number of parts loaded. Batch preparation time is similar to the existing batch processor. With these additional investments, what will be the production rate of the system achievable?