Question

The​ three-station work cell illustrated in the figure below has a product that must go through one of the two machines at station 1​ (they are​ parallel) before proceeding to station 2.

Station 1Machine A, Capacity: 30 units/hr,
Station 1Machine B,Capacity: 30 units/hr
Station 2 Capacity:5 units
Station 3 Capacity:6 units/hr
If the firm operates 9 hours per​ day, 5 days per​ week, the weekly capacity of this work cell is units​ (enter your response as a whole​ number).

Answer 1

The weekly capacity of this work cell is 3570 units. To calculate it, we consider the capacity of each station and the firm's operating hours.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the weekly capacity of this work cell, we need to consider the capacity of each station and the operating hours of the firm. Station 1 has two machines, Machine A and Machine B, each with a capacity of 30 units/hr. Since they are parallel, the total capacity of Station 1 is 60 units/hr. Station 2 has a capacity of 5 units, and Station 3 has a capacity of 6 units/hr.

To calculate the weekly capacity, we multiply the capacity of each station by the operating hours per day and the number of days per week. The formula is:

Weekly Capacity = (Station 1 capacity + Station 2 capacity + Station 3 capacity) x Operating hours per day x Number of days per week

Using the given information, we can calculate:

(60 units/hr + 5 units/hr + 6 units/hr) x 9 hours/day x 5 days/week = 3570 units per week

Therefore, the weekly capacity of this work cell is 3570 units.

Answer 2

The weekly capacity of the work cell is determined by its bottleneck, which is Station 2 with a capacity of 5 units per hour. Multiplying this by the number of operating hours in a week (45 hours), we find that the weekly capacity is 225 units per week.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the weekly capacity of the work cell, we first determine the bottleneck, which is the station with the lowest capacity. In this case, Station 2 with a capacity of 5 units per hour is the bottleneck. Because the other stations have higher capacities, they will be under-utilized, only able to produce as much as the bottleneck allows.

Since the firm operates 9 hours per day and 5 days per week, we multiply the capacity of the bottleneck (5 units/hr) by the number of operating hours in a week (9 hours/day * 5 days/week = 45 hours/week). Therefore, the weekly capacity equals 5 units/hr * 45 hours/week = 225 units per week.