Executive Summary Operations Management Introduction As a leader in the fruit industry, National Cranberry Cooperative (NCC) is ready to take on some changes in order to increase efficiency in its operation. The entire process flow by which cranberries enter, move, and exit Receiving Plant No. 1 (RP1) can be improved by tweaking certain stages of the overall operation. Such improvements will reduce the expensive overtime costs that have been incurred and reduce the waiting time for inbound delivery trucks, hence, enabling the plant operate at more normal business hours and increase the overall profitability of NCC. Problems After running a process flow [see Exhibit 2], it becomes apparent that a main bottleneck exists at the …show more content…
It can be seen at the Dryers that, since they only pass 600 bbls through per hour, a backup occurs and ends up forcing the subsequent processes to back up and ultimately makes the day last until the very end of the allowed time for the plant to remained opened (22-hour window takes us up until 9:00 AM the next morning – in reality, we needed one more hour to complete the entire cycle, but we didn’t have it so we lost 84 bbls; this is what we are trying to avoid, not only because of the waste, but also because of the amount of overtime we need to pay for workers to stay around. Solutions In order to remedy the backlog at the Dryer area, it is recommended that one (1) extra Dryer be purchases, and not two (2) as was suggested by Will Walliston. Since the Separators (capacity of 1,200 bbls) are too big and expensive to improve upon or replicate, NCC should increase the capacity of the Dryer process so 1,200 Wet Berries (double) can be passed on to the Separators instead the current 600 bbls (filling up its capacity with Wet berries is ideal since Dry Berries can sit overnight). The bigger overall solution, though, is to start the plant’s operations at 7:00 AM instead of 11:00 AM, and this will be the basis for most of the following analysis [see Exhibit 7]. If employees start coming in at 7:00 AM and work eight-hour shifts, RP1 will be much better off and will be able to not only limit overtime costs, but
* Post the redistribution of tasks into workstations there is increase in production per shift. Now the increase in demand will be equalled by this increased efficiency with an extra time of .35 hours per shift.
Cranfield Inc. is a leading producer of juices for range of cranberry cocktails. After a market research experiment Cranfield Inc. has many different business decisions to make. One to introduce a new line called lite cocktail which requires space and machinery and will eat into sales of currently offered products. Or not to introduce the new product and lease out it’s space, or do nothing to save the space until it’s needed for its current product line.
To whom it may concern, as an established business for 25 plus years I am still very meticulous pertaining to the fresh fruit I purchase due to the fact we use it in a "Fresh Fruit" and yogurt cup we serve daily. For years I would only purchase fruit I picked out myself at local markets. My awesome sales rep at Reinhart informed me of the produce available at your company and I assured him I was not interested in as my prior experience buying bulk produce was disappointing, for instance not fresh, not ripe, etc. My rep said Reinhart would stand behind their products and they have but, unfortunately, the inconsistent cases of fruit I have been receiving as of late will force me to go back to picking out fruit myself. Ultimately my customers
production speed is not where it should be, and the customer has had to stop
Over time work by the technicians may compromise the quality and the accuracy of the tests being conducted. It may affect the work-life balance of its employees. Similarly, the laboratory may need extra storage space to accommodate the extra input materials. Considering the cost-benefit of adding premium shift hours, the marginal increase in profit is not worth the effort.
(Leonard, 2007, p. 11) Utilization is the mathematical calculation of process throughput over process capacity with the average of the individual process utilization rates being the overall utilization rate. (Leonard, 2007, p. 18) . The utilization rate was the hardest for the group to grasp until they effectively understood that the bottleneck, the process that limits the overall capacity of the system being measured (Leonard, 2007, p. 18), is always the process that is running at 100% utilization, and all other processes utilization is calculated on the basis of this bottleneck process. The remainder of problem 1 in the simulation was emphasizing the importance identifying the bottleneck and calculating the effects of changing the process when you change the bottleneck and when you change other factors. If you affect the bottleneck than you effect process. If the bottleneck remains unchanged than the overall efficiency of the process does not
In addition, we only have an overproduction of 260 hours in the whole year (1%). The production plan suggested would be very flexible, because if demand rises, our workers can always do overtime work and if it suits, we can always postpone the dismissals. On the other hand, if demand decreases, we can cut the overtime hours scheduled, or postpone hiring new employees.
Thus, it is easy to see why a bottleneck might sometimes occur in the DFPR area of there are several small orders going through back-to-back. If viewed in the same manner as costs in economics, the setup time in this operation can be viewed as a fixed cost incurred regardless of production amount. The rum time can be viewed as variable costs that are incurred at an incremental rate as production is increased. Thus, smaller orders have a higher percentage of their production time represented by setup time (fixed) as opposed to run time (variable).
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If the company were to extend production hours to 12 hours a day with an addition of a machine, the production and production cost would increase but so would the number of produced circuit boards. In addition, if the factory could shorten the initial inspection process time, this would allow for more boards to be produced and lessen the bottle neck affect the company currently faces.
If the staffing roster is modified to ensure that the plant can run continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week then this challenge can be met. However, the transformation from the old roster to the new, will need to be carefully managed to minimise disruption to all parties. This report will outline possible steps to achieve this.
A solution to this is to increase the output of the initial processes, to be able to avoid down time in the succeeding processes and ultimately meet the required output per shift of 1,000 boards. As the group said in #4, CBF must start into production at least 1,200 boards to meet the required daily demand of 1,200. This can be attained by making both the cleaning and coating machines run overtime by at least two and a half hours, as well as make the worker loading the boards into these machines do an overtime of one and a
According to a case study cited by Staudt and Stranz (2009), Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 750 cranberry growers in the United States and Canada. The company produces canned and bottled juice, juice drinks and food products at distribution centers in Bordentown, New Jersey; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Sulphur Springs, Texas; and Henderson, Nevada. August is usually a challenging month for Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., when the Lakeville, Massachusetts-based firm has to pump up volume to meet the surge in demand for upcoming holiday season. Ocean Spray was managing its transportation operations internally, but the company decided that focusing on its core competency would allow them
Bottleneck for dry berries is Drying at 600 bbls/hr which is less than arrival rate.
The departments were operating at an hour shift of forty hours. Departments, on weekly basis often add overtime to maintain the orders. According to Bill, who manages the plant, a single shift cuts on additional fixed costs. A second shift would result to extra energy consumption, and more employees increasing the fixed costs of the company. More funds are needed to employ more employees and also train them. Employees are also entitled to 15% premium for each shift. The manager also prefers a capacity utilization of about 85% since the 92% is a little high. The production of plasti-brack takes places in some process.