Question

Andy is a firm believer in waking up early each morning to start his day. His passion for waking up early drove him to start his own business of making alarm clocks for deep sleepers. He knows that total monthly demand next month exceeds his capacity available for production. He produces 3 types of alarm clocks: vibrating, sunrise and foghorn. Each of these 3 alarm clock models pass through 3 stations in the assembly process. Andy estimates demand for next month to be 140 units of Vibrating clocks, 170 units of Sunrise clocks, and 195 units of Foghorn clocks. Andy's Alarms operates two 4-hour shifts per day and are scheduled to work 20 days next month. Additionally, each station requires a 10% capacity cushion. How many minutes are available for manufacturing next month?

Answer 1

After calculating the total hours Andy's Alarms operates per month and converting to minutes, then subtracting a 10% capacity cushion, Andy has 8,640 minutes available for manufacturing alarm clocks next month.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks for the calculation of the available minutes for manufacturing in Andy's alarm clock business next month. To determine this figure, first, the total number of working hours per day needs to be calculated, which is two 4-hour shifts, amounting to 8 hours daily. Next, multiplying by the number of working days gives the total hours available for the month. This figure must then be converted to minutes (since there are 60 minutes in an hour) and adjusted for the required 10% capacity cushion.

Here's how this is calculated:

• 8 hours/day x 20 days = 160 hours
• 160 hours x 60 minutes/hour = 9,600 minutes
• 10% cushion must be subtracted from the total minutes: 9,600 minutes - 10% = 9,600 minutes - 960 minutes = 8,640 minutes

Thus, Andy's Alarms has 8,640 minutes of manufacturing time available next month after accounting for the capacity cushion.