Question

Heavey compressors uses a lean production assembly line to make its compressors. In one assembly area, the demand is 170 parts per eight-hour day. It uses a container that holds ten parts. It typically takes about six hours to round-trip a container from one work center to the next and back again. Heavey also desires to hold 15 percent safety stock of this part in the system. How many containers should Heavey compressors be using?

Answer 1

Heavey compressors should be using approximately 20 containers.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order to determine how many containers Heavey compressors should be using, we need to consider the demand, container size, round-trip time, and safety stock. The demand is given as 170 parts per eight-hour day. Each container holds ten parts. The round-trip time for a container is six hours. Heavey compressors desires to hold 15 percent safety stock.

First, we can calculate the total number of parts needed per day: 170 parts/day.

Next, we can determine the number of containers needed to meet the demand. Each container holds ten parts, so the number of containers needed is 170 parts/day / 10 parts/container = 17 containers.

Considering the round-trip time of six hours, we can calculate the number of container trips per day: 8 hours/day / 6 hours/trip = 1.33 trips.

To account for the desired 15 percent safety stock, we can multiply the number of containers needed by 1.15, giving us a final answer of approximately 20 containers.