Question

A toy company currently operates for 56 hours per week and sells and average of 8,400 toys per week. The manufacturing process consist of three basic operations: molding, painting and finishing (performed in that order). Changing over between different versions of toys requires setup time at painting and finishing. The table below lists the setup times for a batch and the processing times for each unit at each step. There is unlimited buffer space between these steps. Assume that: - Setups need to be completed first - A setup can only start once the batch has arrived at the resource - All flow units of a batch need to be processed at the resource before any of the units of the batch can be moved to the next resource. 1. What is the process capacity in units per hour with a batch size of 500 toys? (report your answer as toys/per hour as an integer) 2. What batch size would minimize inventory without decreasing the process capacity?(report your answer as an integer) 3. What batch size would minimize inventory without decreasing the current flow rate?

Answer 1

Calculation of a toy company's process capacity and optimizations for inventory management based on batch size related to the manufacturing steps of molding, painting, and finishing.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student is asking about the process capacity and batch size optimizations for a toy manufacturing process that includes molding, painting, and finishing. To calculate the process capacity, we need to establish the throughput for each step, considering the time required for both setup and processing per unit. The capacity will be determined by the process that presents the narrowest throughput, also referred to as the bottleneck. For the second part, minimizing inventory without decreasing process capacity can be achieved by adjusting batch sizes so that the throughput time at each step is aligned as close as possible, thus reducing waiting time between processes. This can be done by identifying the setup and processing times and finding a batch size that maximizes the usage of each operation without causing delays. The batch size that minimizes inventory while maintaining the current flow rate needs to be calculated based on the present output of the facility by using the processing times and keeping in mind the goal of reducing inventory levels.