n their Portland, Oregon facility, Wavy Wood Works makes several types of wood b

Question

n their Portland, Oregon facility, Wavy Wood Works makes several types of wood bowls from coastal drift wood. To make a bowl, the first step is to clean the drift wood. Each piece of drift wood makes a single bowl. There is one cleaning machine. It takes 36 seconds to load each piece of wood and the machine can hold up to 36 pieces. Once all of the pieces are loaded into the machine, it takes 40 minutes to clean the set (no matter the number of pieces in the set). Once the wood is cleaned, 19 skilled artisans carve the bowls, each one takes on average 98 minutes to produce each bowl. After carving, bowls are finished with a stain. It takes 32 seconds to load each bowl into the stain machine. The staining machine holds up to 32 bowls. Once all of the bowls are loaded, they are soaked for 75 minutes. After staining, bowls are unloaded onto drying racks. There is plenty of space on the drying racks. What is the maximum capacity (bowls per hour) of this process? (Do not round intermediate calculations. Round to 2 decimal places.) a. bowls per hour Suppose Wavy wants to operate with the same number of bowls in each batch that is cleaned or stained. For example, if they clean in batches of 30, then they stain in batches of 30 as well. What batch size (in bowls) minimizes their inventory while allowing the process to produce at the maximum flow rate? (Use unrounded capacities from Part a. Round to 2 decimal places.) bowls per batch

Explanation / Answer

Answer (a) -

Maximum capacity of cleaning step

=Number of pieces cleaning maching can hold (Time taken to load*Number of pieces to be loaded+Time taken to clean)

Here, Number of pieces cleaning maching can hold = 36 bowls

  Time taken to load = 36 seconds = 0.6 minutes ( 360 seconds in one minute )

Number of pieces to be loaded = 36 bowls

  Time taken to clean = 40 minutes

So, Maximum capacity of cleaning step  = 36 (0.6*36+40)

= 36 61.6

= 1.711 Bowlsmin

  

Maximum Capacity of carving step

= No. of skilled artisans required to carve Time taken to produce the bowls

= 19 98

= 0.19 bowlsmins

Maximum Capacity of Staining step

= Number of bowls staining maching can hold (Time taken to load*Number of bowls to be loaded+Time taken to soak)

Here, Number of bowls staining maching can hold = 32 bowls

Time taken to load = 32 seconds = 0.53 minuts (320 seconds in one minute)

Number of bowls to be loaded = 32 bowls

Time taken to soak = 75 minutes

So, Maximum Capacity of Staining step = 32 (0.53*32+75)

= 32 92.06

= 0.34 bowlsmin

Capacity of Process = Capacity of bottleneck

Here bottlenck capacity is 0.19 bowlsmin or 11.4 bowlshour (0.19*60 as there are 60 minutes in one hour)

So, maximum capacity of process = 11 bowls per hour ( approximately)

Answe (b) -

Batch size that minimzes inventory at maximum flow rate

= Maximum capacity of process * Time taken to do the slowest process / (1 - Maximum capacity of process * Time taken to load the bowls in slowest process)

Here, Maximum capacity of process ( calculated in first part) = 0.19 bowls per minute

Among Cleaning and staining process, Time taken to load the bowls and in completing the process staining process is slower as it takes more time than cleaning process ( times are mentioned in first part). So, slower process is staing process.

Time taken to do the slowest process = 75 mins

Time taken to load the bowls in slowest process = 0.53 mins

So, Batch size that minimzes inventory at maximum flow rate = 0.19*75 / (1-0.19*0.53)

= 14.25 / 0.42

= 33.9

  Batch size that minimzes inventory at maximum flow rate is 34 (approximately)

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse N
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.