Question

Company b has a supply chain system for its powdered milk products as follows:

• the processing plant has a capacity of 5,000 kg/day for 7 days/week. it fills standard boxes of 900g.
• the boxes are passed to two packing areas, each of which can form up to 250 cases/day with 10 boxes/case. the packing areas works a 7-day week.
• the cases are then taken to a warehouse by a transport company whose 5 trucks can each carry 50 cases and make up to 2 trips/day for 5 days/week.
• the warehouse can handle up to 3,000 cases/week.

What is the capacity of each member in Company B's powdered milk products supply chain, considering the processing plant, packing areas, transport company, and warehouse? Additionally, identify the bottleneck in the supply chain. (Unit: boxes/week)

Answer 1

The supply chain capacities range from 35,000 boxes/week at the processing plant to 30,000 boxes/week at the warehouse, with the warehouse being the bottleneck due to its lowest capacity.

Step-by-step explanation:

The capacity of each member in Company B's powdered milk products supply chain is as follows:

The processing plant can produce 35,000 boxes/week (5,000 kg/day * 7 days/week / 0.9 kg/box), each packing area can handle 17,500 boxes/week (250 cases/day * 10 boxes/case * 7 days/week), the transport company can deliver 5,000 cases/week (5 trucks * 50 cases/truck * 2 trips/day * 5 days/week), and the warehouse can handle 3,000 cases/week.

The bottleneck in this supply chain is the warehouse, due to its lowest capacity limit which is 3,000 cases/week or 30,000 boxes/week. The bottleneck in the supply chain is the packing areas, as they can only form up to 17,500 boxes/week, which is lower than the capacity of the processing plant (35,000 kg/week) and the warehouse (3,000 cases/week).