Solutions

The flow diagram of the process is as shown as below:

A Simplified Process Flow Diagram to facilitate analyses:

Question 1: Time to Serve a Rush Order

PAY
PACK
COOL
BAKE
SET OVEN
LOAD
MIX

Time

Resource

12

16

20

24 26 28

32
10

36

You
Oven
Tray
Operations Management

RM

14

Case A: When Starting Work

Flow unit = 1 order of 1 dozen the theoretical flow time is 26 minutes. This is determined by adding the
activity times from start to finish for 1 dozen cookies.
Case B After the first Batch is Prepared
Recognizing the oven as the bottleneck resource (System Capacity = Bottleneck Capacity= 6 dozens/Hr),
the estimate is 10 minutes times the number of dozen cookies ahead of the current customer plus the cool
and pack times.
Note: It is clear with the given data that the bottleneck is the Oven It is the only resource that once we
start producing is not idle. It is the slowest resource: One dozen every 10 min.

Question 2:
One Night Output = 4 Hours * Throughput = 4 Hrs*6 dozen/Hr = 24 Dozens
Question 3:

Utilization Calculations = Flowrate/Capacity = Processing time/Bottleneck Capacity

Utilization {You = 80%, Mixer = 60%, Room mate = 40%, oven = 100%)
Question 4: [
Case 1: Bottleneck Resource Oven with processing speed of 10 minutes/dozen
Flow unit = 1 order of 2 dozen. To determine the theoretical flow time for this flow unit, we first observe
that certain activities can be performed in parallel. For example, while the oven is baking the first dozen,
You can spoon the dough for the second dozen into another tray. Therefore, the flow time of such an

order is not simply the sum of the activity times. A useful tool is a Gantt chart that shows the times during
which different resources of interest are occupied for various activities. A Gantt chart for the three
resources executing an order of 2 dozen cookies is shown in Figure TM-4.2. The dough for the 2 dozen
cookies is mixed by You in 6 minutes and subsequently you spoon dough for 1 dozen in 2 minutes.
Therefore in the 8th minute, the RM is ready to load the oven and set timer, which takes 1 minute. The
oven starts baking the first dozen at the 9th minute and completes baking at the 18th minute. Meanwhile,
You spoon the second dozen into another tray. At the 18th minute, the RM unloads the first tray from the
oven and loads the second tray into the oven and sets the timer. So the second dozen starts baking at the
19th minute. While the second dozen bakes, the first dozen cookies cool and RM packs them into a bag,
which takes a total of 7 minutes. At the 28th minute the second dozen finishes baking at which time the
RM unloads the tray. After cooling for 5 minutes, the RM packs the second dozen in 2 minutes by the
35th minute. Finally, payment for the order and delivery to customer takes place in the 36th minute.
Therefore the theoretical flow time for an order of 2 dozen cookies is 36 minutes.

You

RM

Oven

Minutes
Gantt Chart for Kristens Cookie; order size = 2 dozen (1 Oven)
8 10

15

20

25

30

35

Case 2: With Two Ovens (Processing Speed 10 minutes/ 2 dozen

With two ovens, the baking of the two dozen can be overlapped. So, you can spoon the second dozen into
another tray by the 10th minute. At this time, the RM is ready to load the second oven. The second oven
will finish baking the second dozen by the 20th minute. The first dozen is out of the oven at the 18th
minute after which it cools for 5 minutes and then the RM packs them in 2 minutes finishing at 25th
minute. By this time, the second dozen has cooled and ready to be packed which takes another 2 minutes.
Payment and delivery takes another 1 minute finishing the order in 28 minutes.

Question 5:

Question 6:

New bottleneck = Mixing and Spooning new hourly capacity=7.5 dozens/hr