Question

The three-station work cell illustrated in Figure S7.7, has a product that must go through one of the two machines at station 1 (they are parallel) before proceeding to station 2.

Station 1 Machine A Capacity: 20 units/hr

Station 1 Machine B Capacity: 20 units/hr

Station 2 Capacity: 5 units/hr

Station 3 Capacity: 12 units/hr

a) what is the bottleneck time of the system?

b) what is the bottleneck station of this work cell?

c) what is the throughput time?

d) if the firm operates 10 hrs per day, 5 days per week, what is the weekly capacity of this work cell?

Answer 1

Answer:

Following are the cycle time (Throughput time) which is time taken for producing (processing) a unit for each station:

Station 1 = 60/20 = 3 Minutes

Station 2 = 60/5 = 12 Minutes

Station 1 = 60/12 = 5 Minutes

Ans a)

12 Minutes

Ans b)

Station 2

Ans c)

Throughput time of the system = 3 + 12 + 5 = 20 Minutes

Ans d)

Weekly available time = 600 Minutes (10 hours) * 5 days = 3000 Minutes

Time taken to produce one unit (Throughput time) = 20 Minutes

Weekly Capacity = Weekly available time / Throughput time = 3000/20

Weekly Capacity = 150 units