Question

Problem 8 : Question Help Up, Up, and Away is a producer of kites and wind socks. Relevant data on the bottleneck operation in the shop for the upcoming fiscal year are given in the following table: Item Demand forecast Lot size Standard processing time Standard setup time Kites 30,000 units/year 20 units 0.3 hour/unit 3.0 hours/lot Wind Socks 12,000 units/year 70 units 0.8 hour/unit 4.0 hours/lot The shop works two shifts per day, 8 hours per shift, 180 days per year. Currently, the company operates four machines, and desires a 25 percent capacity cushion. How many machines should be purchased to meet the upcoming year's demand without resorting to any short-term capacity solutions? The number of additional machines required is . (Enter your response rounded up to the next whole number.)

Answer 1

Total load for each product = (Demand / Lot size) * Standard setup time + Demand * Standard processing time

= Demand * (Standad setup time / Lot size + Standard processing time)

Total load for Kites = 30000*(3/20+0.3)

= 13,500 hours

Total load for Kites = 12000*(4/70+0.8)

= 10,286 hours (rounded-off)

Total load for both products = 13500+10286

= 23,786 hours

Capacity of each machine per year = 180*2*8 = 2880 hours

Net capacity per machine considering 25% capacity cushion = 2880*(1-.25) = 2160 hours

Total number of machines required = Total load for both products / Net capacity per machine

= 23786 / 2160

= 11 machines

The number of additional machines required = Total number of machines required - current number of machines

= 11 - 4

= 7 machines