Question

AlwaysRain Irrigation, Inc., would like to determine capacity requirements for the next four years. Currently two production lines are in place for making bronze and plastic sprinklers. Three types of sprinklers are available in both bronze and plastic: 90-degree nozzle sprinklers, 180-degree nozzle sprinklers, and 360-degree nozzle sprinklers. Management has forecast demand for the next four years as follows:

	YEARLY DEMAND
	1 (IN 000s)		2 (IN 000s)		3 (IN 000s)		4 (IN 000s)
Plastic 90	31		40		52		53
Plastic 180	14		16		17		14
Plastic 360	52		52		63		65
Bronze 90	6		6		5		15
Bronze 180	2		2		5		13
Bronze 360	10		12		11		22

Both production lines can produce all the different types of nozzles. The bronze machines needed for the bronze sprinklers require three operators and can produce up to 18,000 sprinklers. The plastic injection molding machine needed for the plastic sprinklers requires four operators and can produce up to 300,000 sprinklers. Three bronze machines and only one injection molding machine are available.

What are the capacity requirements for the next four years? (Assume that there is no learning.) (Enter the demand values in thousands. Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)

	Year 1		Year 2		Year 3		Year 4
Plastic
Demand for plastic sprinklers
Percentage of capacity used		%		%		%		%
Machine requirements
Labor requirements
Bronze
Demand for bronze sprinklers
Percentage of capacity used		%		%		%		%
Machine requirements
Labor requirements

Answer 1

(a)

Plastic Machines

Production = 300000

There is just one machine available.

Available capacity per year = 300000

Required operators = 4 per machine

Bronze Machines

Production = 18000

They are 3 machines available

Total production =3 *18000 = 54000

Required operators = 3 per machine

Formulas used:

% of capacity used = (Demand /Capacity) * 100

Machine requirements = (Demand/Capacity of a single machine)

Labor requirements = Machine requirements * No of operators required per machine

Plastic	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Demand (000's)	97	108	132	132
Capacity (000's)	300	300	300	300
% of capacity used	32.33%	36.00%	44.00%	44.00%
Machine requirement	0.323	0.360	0.440	0.440
Labor requirements	1.293	1.440	1.760	1.760

Bronze	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4
Demand (000's)	18	20	21	50
Capacity (000's)	54	54	54	54
% of capacity used	33.33%	37.04%	38.89%	92.59%
Machine requirement	0.333	0.370	0.389	0.926
Labor requirements	1.000	1.111	1.167	2.778

(b) There is sufficient capacity to meet the demand over the next 4 years.