Question

DataSpan, Inc., automated its plant at the start of the current year and installed a flexible manufacturing system. The company is also evaluating its suppliers and moving toward Lean Production. Many adjustment problems have been encountered, including problems relating to performance measurement. After much study, the company has decided to use the performance measures below, and it has gathered data relating to these measures for the first four months of operations.

	Month
	1	2	3	4
Throughput time (days)	?	?	?	?
Delivery cycle time (days)	?	?	?	?
Manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE)	?	?	?	?
Percentage of on-time deliveries	75%	76%	81%	88%
Total sales (units)	10,410	10,450	10,550	10,430

Management has asked for your help in computing throughput time, delivery cycle time, and MCE. The following average times have been logged over the last four months:

	Average per Month (in days)
	1		2		3		4
Move time per unit	0.7		0.6		0.4		0.3
Process time per unit	0.5		0.7		0.5		0.3
Wait time per order before start of production	9.2		8.0		5.0		4.0
Queue time per unit	3.2		3.2		2.6		1.3
Inspection time per unit	0.4		0.3		0.4		0.5

Required:

1-a. Compute the throughput time for each month. (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)

1-b. Compute the manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE) for each month. (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)

	Manufacturing Cycle Efficiency (MCE) Month 1 % Month 2 % Month 3 % Month 4 %

1-c. Compute the delivery cycle time for each month. (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)

	Delivery Cycle Time Month 1 days Month 2 days Month 3 days Month 4 days

3-a. Refer to the move time, process time, and so forth, given for month 4. Assume that in month 5 the move time, process time, and so forth, are the same as in month 4, except that through the use of Lean Production the company is able to completely eliminate the queue time during production. Compute the new throughput time and MCE. (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)

	Month 5 Throughput time days Manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE) %

3-b. Refer to the move time, process time, and so forth, given for month 4. Assume in month 6 that the move time, process time, and so forth, are again the same as in month 4, except that the company is able to completely eliminate both the queue time during production and the inspection time. Compute the new throughput time and MCE. (Round your answers to 1 decimal place.)

	Month 6 Throughput time days Manufacturing cycle efficiency (MCE) %

Answer 1

Ans. 1 a	Throughput time = Move time + Process time + Queue time + Inspection time
		Months
	Particulars	1	2	3	4
	Move time per unit	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.3
	Process time per unit	0.5	0.7	0.5	0.3
	Inspection time per unit	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.5
	Queue time	3.2	3.2	2.6	1.3
	Total (Throughput Time)	4.8 days	4.8 days	3.9 days	2.4 days
Ans. 1 b	Manufacturing cycle efficiency = Process time or value added time / Throughput time * 100
	Months
	1	0.5 / 4.8 * 100	10.4%
	2	0.7 / 4.8 * 100	14.6%
	3	0.5 / 3.9 * 100	12.8%
	4	0.3 / 2.4 * 100	12.5%
Ans. 1 c	Delivery cycle time = Throughput time + Wait time per order before start of production
	Months
	1	4.8 + 9.2	14	days
	2	4.8 + 8	12.8	days
	3	3.9 + 5	8.9	days
	4	2.4 + 4	6.4	days
Ans. 3 a	Throughput time for Month-5:	1.1 days
	Move time per unit	0.3
	Process time per unit	0.3
	Inspection time per unit	0.5
	Total	1.1	days
	MCE (manufacturing cycle efficiency) = Process time / Throughput time * 100
		0.3 / 1.1 * 100
		27.3%
Ans. 3 b	Throughput time for Month-6:	0.6 days
	Move time per unit	0.3
	Process time per unit	0.3
	Total	0.6	days
	MCE (manufacturing cycle efficiency) = Process time / Throughput time * 100
		0.3 / 0.6 * 100
		50.0%