Question

The Peeps factory in Lansing, Michigan can be described as a 3-step process consisting of mixing, forming, and packaging. Peep snacks are made in batches of 1000 and have a daily demand of 75,000 units during what the plant manager likes to call "the Peep season." Mixing has a cycle time of .02 seconds with a setup time of 30 seconds; Forming has a setup time of 24 seconds and a cycle time of .03 seconds, and Packaging has a setup time of 15 seconds with a cycle time of .04 seconds. Each process step is handled by a single operator, Sarah, who is available for 8 hours a day. What is the process bottleneck if each process step is assumed to have 100% uptime?

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Answer 1

Bottleneck is the process stage with the smallest capacity or longest cycle time, therefore let’s calculate total cycle time of each process step. Where

Cycle time = setup time + cycle time per unit* batch size

For mixing step –

Setup time = 30 seconds

Cycle time per unit = 0.02 seconds

Batch size = 1000

Therefore,

Total Cycle time for mixing = 30 seconds + 0.02 seconds * 1000

= 30 seconds + 20 seconds

= 50 seconds

For forming step –

Setup time = 24 seconds

Cycle time per unit = 0.03 seconds

Batch size = 1000

Therefore,

Total Cycle time for forming = 24 seconds + 0.03 seconds * 1000

= 24 seconds + 30 seconds

= 54 seconds

For packaging step –

Setup time = 15 seconds

Cycle time per unit = 0.04 seconds

Batch size = 1000

Therefore,

Total Cycle time for packaging = 15 seconds + 0.04 seconds * 1000

= 15 seconds + 40 seconds

= 55 seconds

As the total cycle time is longest for packaging step (55 seconds per batch), therefore bottleneck of the process is packaging.