Question

1. Assume that customers are waiting in line to check-out at Pot Belly. Sandwich makers cannot take any more orders because customers cannot move forward.

Is the sandwich maker experiencing a flow-blocking delay or a lack-of-work delay? List 2 ways this delay can be corrected.

Answer 1

The sandwich makers are experiencing a flow-blocking delay as the work center at one stage completes a unit but is unable to release it as the process storage at the next stage is full, workers are idle until work space becomes available.

2 ways this can be corrected:

Level of capacity: There should be an attempt to balance the processes by appropriately designing the capacity levels at each work station by adding parallel workstations.

Assembly line balancing: By grouping tasks among workstations so that each workstation has the same amount of work and focus on efficient organisation of work in flow shops as it results in achieving necessary commitments.