Homework answers / question archive / OPMT 625 Bordoloi Individual Assignment # 2 (Production Planning, Capacity & Bottleneck Analysis) (You may use Excel for your own work, but please submit your answer in PDF or Word format)   Purpose: This assignment is designed to reflect upon several related concepts of Operations Management, such as Production Planning, Bottleneck Management, Capacity and Demand Management, and Sensitivity (What-If) Analysis

OPMT 625 Bordoloi Individual Assignment # 2 (Production Planning, Capacity & Bottleneck Analysis) (You may use Excel for your own work, but please submit your answer in PDF or Word format)   Purpose: This assignment is designed to reflect upon several related concepts of Operations Management, such as Production Planning, Bottleneck Management, Capacity and Demand Management, and Sensitivity (What-If) Analysis

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OPMT 625 Bordoloi Individual Assignment # 2 (Production Planning, Capacity & Bottleneck Analysis) (You may use Excel for your own work, but please submit your answer in PDF or Word format)

 

Purpose:

This assignment is designed to reflect upon several related concepts of Operations Management, such as Production Planning, Bottleneck Management, Capacity and Demand Management, and Sensitivity (What-If) Analysis. This is also a good lead-off to the book, The Goal. You do not need to use Solver in this assignment (though you can).

 

Task:

You manage the production process in the high-tech facility of Dale Computers Inc.  The facility consists of three different assembly lines (1, 2, 3) making two different products, X and Y.  Assembly Line 2 is dedicated to the assembly of product X, and assembly line 3 is dedicated to product Y.  Assembly Line 1 can assemble both the products.  The production process begins with the procurement of raw materials from suppliers.  Next, the raw materials are processed into six independent subassemblies, A–F, in separate work areas within the facility.  Each product is then assembled from these subassemblies in one of the assembly lines.  Product X involves the assembly of subassemblies A, B, C, and E.  Product Y requires that subassemblies B, C, D, E, and F be assembled.  Subsequent to assembly, each product is finished, customized (painted and other options added), packaged and shipped.  Current trends indicate that 20% of product X and 50% of product Y are customized. 

 

Following are the capacities of the work areas producing the subassemblies:

 

Subassembly Type          Capacity (Units/Week)

A             2500

B             2400

C             2350

D             2250

E              3600

F              1200

 

The annual demands for the products are as shown below:

Product                Sub-assemblies required for one unit of product              Annual Unit Sales

X             (2 of A);  (1 of B, C, E)     52,000

Y              (1 of B, C, F);  (2 of D, E) 52,000

 

The capacities of the assembly lines and the finishing, packaging and customizing areas are as given below:

Assembly line 1                 1200 units/week                              Finishing                 2500 units/week

Assembly line 2                 500 units/week                 Customizing          850 units/week

Assembly line 3                 600 units/week                 Packaging          3000 units/week

 

Notes:  (1) Assume 52 operating weeks/year. Converting to weekly demand may be helpful.

                (2) Plan production to just meet the demand (do not overproduce).

 

Answer the following questions Show your calculations.

 

1)            From the point of view of capacity management, what is the key business issue for Dale Computers, given that demand forecast is available? [Note: Answer this in concept, before you do Part 2 below]

2)            With the current weekly demands of 1000 for each product X and Y, what is the current bottleneck resource? [Note: Don’t change demand yet]

3)            Management must deal with changing demand and resource constraint, by analyzing alternative business scenarios. If the weekly demand for X and Y increased proportionately (= by same percentage), identify the top three resources that are bottleneck candidates. [Note: Take Assembly Lines together as a single resource]

4)            Now, if demands for X and Y change disproportionately (= by different percentage) in the above situation, what does your analysis tell you about its effect on bottleneck shift, especially in product mix situation of a multiple product plant? Defend your answer with necessary “what-if” examples. [Note: this part will assess your critical thinking]