Question

A process has an average throughput rate of 2 units an hour. The throughput ranges between 1.5 and 2.5 per hour. Once or twice a month on the days when the most experienced worker is operating the process and there are no interruptions during the process and when the input materials are just right, the process has a throughput rate of 3 units an hour. The machine designer says the actual capacity of the machine is 4 units an hour.

What should the ops manager state the current capacity (i.e., maximum sustainable throughput) of this process is:?

Answer 1

Operations Management

A process has an average throughput rate of 2 units an hour. The throughput ranges between 1.5 and 2.5 per hour. Once or twice a month on the days when the most experienced worker is operating the process and there are no interruptions during the process and when the input materials are just right, the process has a throughput rate of 3 units an hour. The machine designer says the actual capacity of the machine is 4 units an hour.

What should the ops manager state the current capacity (i.e., maximum sustainable throughput) of this process is:?

The throughput range is 1.5 to 2.5 per hour with average being 2 units an hour. Under the right conditions this throughput can reach 3 units an hour where the design capacity pegs the throughput at 4 units an hour

The ops manager should state the current capacity as 3 units an hour as the maximum sustainable throughput for this process. Since the current average is 2 and 3 is being reached under near perfect conditions like worker experience, no interruptions and right input materials, maximum sustainable throughput that the ops manager can attempt to achieve can be 3 units an hour