BUS 321: Operations and Production Management

Fall 2018

PROBLEM SHEET # 4

1. Joanna French is currently working a total of 12 hours per day to produce

240 dolls. She thinks that by changing the paint used for the facial features
and fingernails that she can increase her rate to 360 dolls per day. Total
material cost for each doll is approximately $3.50; she has to invest $20 in the
necessary supplies (expendables) per day; energy costs are assumed to be only
$4.00 per day; and she thinks she should be making $10 per hour for her
time. Viewing this from a total (multifactor) productivity perspective, what is
her productivity at present and with the new paint?)

2. A manufacturer’s research and development center must expand by building a new facility.
The search has been narrowed to five locations, all of which are acceptable to management.
The assessment of these sites is being made on the basis of the five subjective location
factors that follow. Management has agreed to use a five-point scale (Excellent = 5, and
Poor = 1) to quantify and compare their subjective opinions about the relative goodness of
the sites. The weight reflects the importance of each factor in the decision.
Locations

Factor Weight A B C D E

Labor climate 0.30 4 2 1 4 2

Proximity to markets 0.30 5 3 3 4 4

Quality of life 0.15 1 3 2 1 5

Proximity to suppliers 0.15 2 5 3 4 3

Taxes 0.10 4 4 4 1 3

Calculate the weighted score for each alternative. Which location would you recommend?
 3. Cyclone Appliances has developed a new European-style convection oven that
will be made on an assembly line. The schedule requires 80 ovens in an 8-hour
day. The assembly includes seven tasks. The table below indicates the
performance time and the sequence requirements for each task.

Predecessor(s) (Task
Performance Time must follow Task
Task (minutes) listed below)
A 1
B 2 A
C 3 B
D 2 B
E 4 C, D
F 1 E
G 2 F

(a) What is the cycle time for this assembly operation?

(b) What is the theoretical minimum number of workstations?
(c) Draw the precedence diagram.

4. Hemo-tech, Inc., a biomedical technology and research laboratory, produces a

standard blood filtering device on an assembly-line basis. Six basic tasks are
performed along the assembly line. The time to perform each task and the tasks
that must immediately precede each task are in the table below. Twenty pumps per
450-minute day must be produced by the assembly line.

Preceding Time to perform

Task Task (min.)
A -- 5.40
B A 3.20
C -- 1.50
D B, C 2.80
E D 17.10
F E 12.80

(a) Draw the network diagram of the precedence relationships.

(b) Identify the absolute minimum and maximum cycle times.
(c) What is the cycle time required to meet demand?
(d) What is the minimum number of workstations required to meet the schedule?
(e) Balance this line using the most following tasks heuristic.
(f) What is the efficiency of the line obtained in part (e)?
5. The operations manager has narrowed down the search for a new plant to three locations.
Fixed and variable costs follow.

Fixed Costs Variable Costs

Location Per Year Per Unit

A 70,000 25

B 120,000 22

C 250,000 17

Plot the total cost curves in the chart provided and identify the range over which each location
would be best. Then use break-even analysis to calculate exactly the break-even quantity that
defines each range.

900000
800000
700000
Total Cost

600000
500000
400000
300000
19500
10500
12000
13500
15000
16500
18000

21000
22500
24000
25500
27000
28500
30000

Output Volume
6. East Texas Seasonings is preparing to build one processing center to serve its four sources
of seasonings. The four source locations are at coordinates shown below. Also, the volume
from each source is provided.
a. Calculate the volume-weighted center of gravity.
b. Calculate the simple center of gravity (all cities weighted equally).
c. Explain why the two calculations differ.

X-coordinate Y-coordinate Volume

Athens, Texas 30 40 100
Beaumont, Texas 20 15 400
Carthage, Texas 55 60 150
Denton, Texas 20 70 250