SMU Classification: Restricted

Process Fundamentals Practice Questions

INSTRUCTIONS

Many questions in this practice set are more difficult than our exam questions. The more
challenging questions are identified by an (*) at the end.

All questions are multiple choice. On each question, please circle the letter next to the
answer you believe is correct.

In order to make your calculations as straightforward as possible, assume that, unless

stated otherwise,
1. there are sufficient parts or raw materials so that the initial operation(s) are never
starved;
2. processing times have negligible variability, and over time, workers neither speed up
nor slow down, but work always at the processing rates given;
3. there are no machine breakdowns;
4. when there are buffers shown, they are large enough to accommodate any amount of
inventory that would reside in those buffers under normal operations;
5. travel time and time to transport parts from one operation to the next is negligible;
6. all operations run with 100% yield, i.e., the operations produce no defective units;
and
7. all processes are in steady state (e.g., in the middle of the day); thus, you may ignore
any start-up effects.

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PART A

SUPER SONIC CIRCUIT BOARD LINE

The Super Sonic Corporation assembles circuit boards at its Chicago facility for use as
components in its televisions, VCRs and stereo systems. The television circuit board
assembly line consists of ten stations connected by automated material handling
equipment. The line operates continuously for 8 hours per day. (Relief workers fill in
during lunch and other breaks to keep the line running.) See Table 1 on the next page for
a summary of the process. The Work in Process at each station is also given in Table 1.

1. Solder Screen: Raw boards are fed into the screen machine. The machine then
applies paste prior to placement of all surface mount parts. A single operator
tends the machine and makes sure that it always fed with the appropriate amounts
of input materials.
2. Position Parts: A fully automated pick & place robot positions each surface
mount component at the appropriate site on the board. The machines are fed by
reels of components.
3. Through Hole Part Assembly: This is a manual operation. Workers place
larger and more delicate through hole components (such as CPU chips) on the
board.
4. Convection Ovens: Each oven heats a board to re-flow solder that has been
applied to the surface mount parts. Each oven runs one board at a time. The
operators load and unload boards from the ovens.
5. Wave Solder: The operator attaches each board to a rack and then loads &
unloads racks that are fed into the machine on a conveyor belt. The machine is
used to connect through hole components to each board by passing the board over
a pool of molten solder.
6. Board Cleaning: Boards are cleaned in automated washing machines. Each
machine runs one board at a time. Workers load and unload boards into the
machines.
7. Inspect: This is a manual operation. Each board is examined to ensure that all
components are properly placed and soldered.
8. Burn-In Test: Each board is connected to an automated testing machine,
powered up and monitored over a test period. Operators load and unload boards
and remove defective boards for re-work.
9. Functionality & Performance Test: This is a manual operation. Testers test the
functionality of each board against a pre-programmed protocol.
10. Package & Ship: Boards are shipped with electrostatic protective materials.

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Station Task Activity Labor Number of Work in

Time (per Content Resources Process
board) (per board) Inventory
(boards)
1 Solder Screen 2 minutes 2 minutes 1 worker 1
2 Position Parts 5 minutes 0 minutes 3 machines 3
3 Through Hole Part 9 minutes 9 minutes 4 workers 4
Assembly
4 Convection Ovens 15 minutes 2 minutes 7 ovens 7
2 workers
5 Wave Solder 1.5 minutes 0.5 minutes 1 worker 1
6 Board Cleaning 12 minutes 2 minutes 6 machines 6
2 workers
7 Inspect 8 minutes 8 minutes 5 inspection 5
workers
8 Burn-In Test 20 minutes 3 minutes 9 machines 9
2 workers
9 Functionality & 10 minutes 10 minutes 5 testers 5
Performance Test
10 Package & Ship 6 minutes 6 minutes 3 workers 3

Figure 1. Super Sonic Process Flow and Data for the Television Circuit Board Line

Labor content: The amount of labor (in units of time) actually contained in the task.

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1. What is the bottleneck activity?

a. Solder Screen
b. Position Parts
c. Through Hole Part Assembly
d. Convection Ovens
e. Wave Solder
f. Board Cleaning
g. Inspect
h. Burn-In Test
i. Functionality & Performance Test
j. Package & Ship
k. None of the above

2. What is the Process Capacity of the line, rounded to the nearest integer number of
boards?
a. 200 boards/day
b. 213 boards/day
c. 216 boards
d. 224 boards/day
e. 240 boards/day
f. 300 boards/day
g. 320 boards/day
h. None of the above

3. What is the Direct Labor Content of a board?

a. 30 minutes
b. 35.5 minutes
c. 42.5 minutes
d. 55 minutes
e. 125 minutes
f. 160 minutes
g. None of the above

4. Assume, for this question only, that the average demand is 200 boards per day,
and that each day the company produces just enough to meet the demand. What
is the utilization of Station 1, the Solder Screen operation, rounded to the nearest
percent?
a. 31%
b. 48%
c. 67%
d. 83%
e. 100%
f. 107%
g. None of the above

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5. What is the Flow Time of the process, (i.e. the average time to get one board
through the line), assuming that the flow rate equals the process capacity and that
the flow of work is paced by the automated material handling equipment to
maintain the Work in Process shown in Table 1. Round your answer to the nearest
minute.
a. 42.5 minutes
b. 66 minutes
c. 88.5 minutes
d. 99 minutes
e. 160 minutes
f. 240 minutes
g. None of the above

6. Approximately how long would it take Super Sonic to complete an order for 500
boards? For this question only, assume that the time for the first unit to pass
through the system is 50 minutes and that the Process Capacity is 200 boards/day.
(Note: this information is deliberately contradictory to the case facts in order to
make this question independent of the others). You may assume that the factory
is empty when the order arrives. Round your answer to the nearest minute.
a. 600 minutes
b. 954 minutes
c. 1,200 minutes
d. 1,248 minutes
e. 4,800 minutes
f. 25,000 minutes
g. None of the above

7*. Super Sonic is interested in increasing the capacity of the line without investing in
any additional equipment. They think they can do so by re-assigning workers on
the line. What would be the impact on line capacity of decreasing the number of
inspectors in activity 7, (Inspect), from 5 to 4 people and re-assigning that
inspector optimally, i.e. to the activity that would provide the greatest increment
in capacity? Round your answer to the nearest .1%.
a. Line capacity will decrease by 20%
b. Line capacity will decline by 2.7%
c. Line capacity will be unchanged
d. Line capacity will increase by 1.3%
e. Line capacity will increase by 25%
f. None of the above

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PART B

Consider a process that consists of three steps 1, 2 and 3. Step 1 is a manual operation
staffed by a single worker. Steps 1 and 2 are each equipped by a single machine. Step 3 is
performed by a single worker. Each of the process steps works on one unit of work at a
time, but must complete a “set up” between production batches. The required processing
times and set-up times at each of the steps are listed below. There is unlimited space for
buffer inventory between these steps. The system has an unlimited supply of work
available to be performed (i.e., demand exceeds capacity).

Process step 1 2 3

Set up time 50 min 120 min 0

Activity time 2 min/unit 1 min/unit 5 min/unit

B1*. Assume that the current production batch size is 100 units for all three steps. What
is the capacity of the process? Assume answer is rounded to the nearest integer.
a. 6 units/hour
b. 12 units/hour
c. 24 units/hour
d. 27 units/hour
e. none of the above

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PART C

STIK PEN ASSEMBLY LINE

The Stik Pen Corporation assembles ball point pens at its Tennessee facility for its line of
low priced office stationary products. The Tennessee facility produces pens for
distribution throughout North America on four assembly lines.

Each pen assembly line consists of seven stations connected by a high speed conveyor
system and automated material handling equipment that move individual pen assemblies
along a fully connected machine paced line. The overall flow is illustrated in Figure 1.
See Table 1 for a summary of the process steps.

Ballpoint Assemblies

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Ink Cartridges Pen Moldings Pen Moldings

(Lower) (Upper) Pen Grips

Figure 1 Stik Pen Ballpoint Pen Assembly Line Process Flow Diagram

1. Cartridge/Ballpoint Assembly: A ballpoint assembly is attached to a pre-filled

ink cartridge. The operator loads magazines of ballpoint assemblies and
containers of cartridges onto the machine and monitors the process.
2. Insert Cartridge into Pen Assembly: An ink cartridge is inserted into the lower
section of the pen molding (outer casing).
3. Pen Molding Assembly 1: The upper section of the pen molding is assembled.
This involves insertion of a spring-loaded plunger. Each upper section also is
matched to a lower section at this stage.
4. Pen Molding Assembly 2: The lower and upper sections of the pen molding are
connected (screwed together).
5. Grip Assembly: The pen molding assembly is mated with a flexible rubber grip .
6. Inspect/Test: An automated measurement device checks key dimensions of each
pen as it passes through the machine. A mechanical test of the cartridge operation
is also carried out. Any defectives detected are automatically removed from the
line. Defects however are so rare that do not impact any of the computations
required to answer the exam questions.
7. Package: Each pen is individually packaged in a blister wrap plastic package.

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Station Task Activity Time Number of Resources

(per
pen/container)
1 Cartridge/Ballpoint 8 seconds 1 machine
Assembly 1 worker
2 Insert Cartridge into 14 seconds 1 machine
Pen Molding 1 worker
3 Pen Molding 72 seconds 5 machines*
Assembly 1 5 workers
4 Pen Molding 44 seconds 4 machines*
Assembly 2 4 workers
5 Grip Assembly 25 seconds 2 machines*
2 workers
6 Inspect/Test 120 seconds 6 machines*
6 workers
7 Packaging 30 seconds 3 machines*
3 workers

Table 1 Stik Pen Process Flow and Data for the Ballpoint Pen Assembly Line

* Multiple machines work in parallel, i.e. flow is synchronized so that material is routed
from the input conveyor to an individual machine for processing and the processed
material is then fed to the output conveyor.

C1. What is the bottleneck activity?

a. Cartridge/Ballpoint Assembly
b. Insert Cartridge into Pen Molding
c. Pen Molding Assembly 1
d. Pen Molding Assembly 2
e. Grip Assembly
f. Inspect/Test
g. Packaging
h. None of the above

C2. What is the capacity of a single line, assuming that it runs for 2 consecutive 8
hour shifts per day?

a. 1,440 pens/day
b. 2,400 pens/day
c. 2,880 pens/day
d. 3,200 pens/day
e. 3,927 pens/day
f. 4,608 pens/day
g. 5,760 pens/day
h. None of the above

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C3. What is the Direct Labor Content of a pen? Note that the machine time is equal to
the operator time.

a. 104 seconds
b. 120 seconds
c. 180 seconds
d. 224 seconds
e. 240 seconds
f. 313 seconds
g. 440 seconds
h. None of the above

C4. Assume that the average demand is 16,000 pens per day, assuming four lines and
two 8-hour shifts per day. What is the utilization of Station 5, Grip Assembly on
a line?

a. 28.5%
b. 35%
c. 43.5%
d. 49%
e. 62.5%
f. 86%
g. 100%
h. 174%
i. None of the above

C5. How much time does it take to get one pen through an empty system?

a. 97 seconds
b. 117 seconds
c. 183 seconds
d. 224 seconds
e. 313 seconds
f. 440 seconds
g. None of the above

C6. Approximately how long would it take Stik Pen to complete an order for 1,500
pens? For this question only, assume that the time it takes to process a unit
through an empty system is 3 minutes, that there is only one line operating and
that it is operating at a Process Capacity of 5,500 pens/day (double shift). (Note:
this information is deliberately contradictory to the case facts in order to make
this question independent of the others). You may assume that the factory is
empty when the order arrives.

a. 265 minutes
b. 503 minutes

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c. 875 minutes
d. 1,200 minutes
e. 4,500 minutes
f. 5,600 minutes
g. 7,825 minutes
h. None of the above

C7. * Stik Pen is interested in reducing its labor costs for the pen assembly line by
eliminating excess capacity on the line. They plan to do so by removing
machines and workers at one or more stations on the line. What would be the
maximum reduction of workers/machines they can make without reducing
process capacity, with one line and two 8-hour shifts?

a. 1 worker/machine
b. 2 worker/machines
c. 3 worker/machines
d. 4 worker/machines
e. 5 worker/machines
f. 6 worker/machines
g. 7 worker/machines
h. None of the above

C8. What is the direct labor cost per pen under the original configuration? Assume
that each worker is paid $10/hour.

a. $0.03
b. $0.33
c. $0.67
d. $0.87
e. $1.11
f. $1.22
g. $2.44
h. None of the above

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PART D

KICK FLIP, INC.

Kick Flip Inc. is a skateboard manufacturer that supplies skateboard decks to specialty
skateboard stores. With skateboarding the fastest growing sport among children 10-18,
the company is experiencing demand that greatly exceeds capacity for these specialty
boards.

Sanding Painting / Drying

Lithography (UV Lamp)

Specifically, the boards, or “decks”, are purchased from an outside supplier. Kick Flip
sands the deck and paints the decks using a lithography machine. The decks are then
loaded onto a pallet and dried quickly using an ultraviolet lamp. The pallet is not placed
under the lamp until all decks in a batch have been painted. The lamp can dry up to 50
decks at one time. The company has 5 patterns that are painted on the decks. The
lithography machine requires a set up, so decks are processed in batches according to the
pattern.

The activity times per deck are as follows:

Sanding – 3 minutes per deck

Painting – 15 minutes set-up and 2 minutes per deck
Drying – 30 minutes regardless of batch size.

Sanding, painting, and drying each have one operator.

D1. What is the process capacity in decks per hour with a batch size of 50 decks
(round to the nearest integer)?

a. 10 decks/hour
b. 16 decks/hour
c. 20 decks/hour
d. 26 decks/hour
e. 50 decks/hour
f. 100 decks/hour
g. None of the above

D2. Assume the following average inventory in sanding, the buffer, and painting:

Sanding: 1 batch
Buffer: 2 batches
Painting 1 batch

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What is the average flow time from the start of sanding until the decks are ready
to enter the drying area with a batch size of 50 decks?

a. 1.33 hours
b. 3 hours
c. 10 hours
d. 12.5 hours
e. 16.67 hours
f. 80 hours
g. None of the above

D3. What is the utilization in the drying area if the batch size is 50 decks?

a. 10%
b. 20%
c. 50%
d. 60%
e. 80%
f. 100%
g. None of the above

D4. What batch size should be used in order to minimize inventory without sacrificing
flow rate?

a. 4 decks
b. 7 decks
c. 10 decks
d. 15 decks
e. 25 decks
f. 50 decks
g. None of the above

D5. Kick Flip is offered the opportunity to purchase another dryer. The company
should do the following, assuming the current conditions:

a. Purchase the new dryer because the flow rate will decrease.
b. Purchase the new dryer because flow time will decrease.
c. Purchase the new dryer because then the batch size can be doubled.
d. Do not purchase the new dryer because additional capacity is not needed
at the drying area.
e. A cost-benefit analysis must be conducted to determine the financial
benefit of a second dryer.

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Kick Flip has the opportunity to make complete skateboards for retailers such as Target
and Walmart. In order to manufacture the boards, the company must include truck
mounting and wheel mounting. Kick Flip plans to purchase one machine to mount the
trucks and one machine to mount the wheels. Forecasts indicate that there is very high
demand for the skateboards that will greatly exceed Kick Flip’s capacity.

Truck mounting machine takes 2 minutes per deck (1 minute to mount each truck). The
wheel mounting is a bit more complex. Each of the five printing patterns has a distinct
set of corresponding wheels, so that the wheel mounting must also be in batches that
correspond to the painting batches. The machine itself has a two-step set up. First, the
machine itself must be calibrated, which takes 10 minutes for each batch. Then, the
specific wheels must be loaded into the machine for mounting. Each set of 4 wheels
(required for 1 deck) takes 1 minute per deck to load. Finally, the machine mounts the
wheels for one deck in 1.5 minutes.

D6. * What is the process capacity in skateboards per hour with a batch size of 50
skateboard (round to the nearest integer)?

a. 10 skateboards/hour
b. 16 skateboards/hour
c. 20 skateboards/hour
d. 26 skateboards/hour
e. 50 skateboards/hour
f. 100 skateboards/hour
g. None of the above

D7. * With unlimited demand for these complete skateboards, what batch size should
be chosen that minimizes inventory without sacrificing flow rate?

a. 4 skateboards
b. 7 skateboards
c. 10 skateboards
d. 15 skateboards
e. 25 skateboards
f. 50 skateboards
g. None of the above

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Answer Key

Part A

A1: C
At stations with both workers and machines, we need to recognize that the workers
simply keep the machines running at their capacity and hence the machines are the
resource that defines capacity of such stations with machines and workers. With this
convention we can compute the capacity of each stations as 480 minutes/day * Number of
resources/Activity time in minutes. The results are shown below. Station 3, Through Hole
Part Assembly, has the lowest capacity and hence is the bottleneck.

Station Activity time (mins) Resource units Daily capacity

1 2 1 240
2 5 3 288
3 9 4 213.33
4 15 7 224
5 1.5 1 320
6 12 6 240
7 8 5 300
8 20 9 216
9 10 5 240
10 6 3 240

A2: B
This is the capacity of bottleneck station 3 at 213.33 rounded to nearest integer.

A3:C
Simply the sum of values given in the Labor Content column.

A4: D
200 demand / 240 capacity = 83.33% which rounds to 83%.

A5: D
Per Table 1, WIP = 44 units, flow rate = 213.33 boards/day/480 mins/day = .4444375,
and by Little’s Law we have Flow Time = WIP/R = 44/213.33 = 99.001546 minutes
which rounds to 99 minutes.

A6: D
The appropriate formula is Total Time = Time for first unit + (Q-1)/R. Using R =
200/480 mins/day = .416666 boards/minute, we have total time = 50 + 499/.416666 =
1247.6 which rounds to 1248 minutes.

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A7: D
Capacity at station 7 is now 4 workers * 480 mins/day/8 mins = 240 units/day. If we add
the worker to the bottleneck station 3, its capacity becomes 5 workers * 480 mins/day/9
mins/unit = 266.67. The new bottleneck is station 8 with a capacity of 216/day, which is
1.25% greater than 213.33 which rounds to 1.3%.

Part B

B1: B
The capacity of Step 1 = 100 / (50+200) = 24 units/hour. The capacity of Step 2 = 100 /
(120+100) = 27.3 units/hour. The capacity of Step 3 = 12 units/hour. Therefore, the
capacity of the process = 12 units/hour.

Another way to look at this problem is the following:

 CT of the first step is (50 minutes+2 minutes/unit *100 units)/100 units= 2.5
minute/unit,
 CT of the second step is (120 minutes+1 minutes/unit *100 units)/100 units= 2.2
minute/unit,
 CT of the third step is 5 minute/unit.

So the CT of the entire system is max{2.5 minute/unit, 2.2 minute/unit, 5 minute/unit} = 5

minute/unit, so the capacity of the process is 60 (minute/hour) / 5 (minutes/unit) = 12
unit/hour.

Part C

C1: F
We must first find the process capacity at each step:

Station 1: 1 pen/8 seconds = 0.125 pens/second

Station 2: 1 pen/14 seconds = 0.071 pens/second
Station 3: 5 pens/72 seconds = 0.069 pens/second
Station 4: 4 pens/44 seconds = 0.091 pens/second
Station 5: 2 pens/25 seconds = 0.080 pens/second
Station 6: 6 pens/120 seconds = 0.050 pens/second
Station 7: 3 pens/30 seconds = 0.100 pens/second
Therefore, the bottleneck is Station 6 (Inspect/Test) at 0.05 pens/second.

C2: C
Since the bottleneck activity is Station 6, the capacity of a single line for a 16-hour day =
0.05 pens/second * (60 seconds/minute) * (60 minutes/hour) * (16 hours/day) = 2880
pens/day.

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C3: F
The direct labor content of a pen is simply the addition of the activity times = 8 + 14 +
72 + 44 + 25 + 120 + 30 = 313 seconds.

C4: E
Station 5 has a process capacity of 0.08 pens/second * (3600 seconds/hour) * (16
hours/day) * 4 lines = 18,432 pens/day. Even though demand = 16,000 pens/day, we are
constrained by our process capacity, which is 2880 pens/day per line, or 11,520
pens/day. Thus, utilization at Station 5 = 11,520 / 18,432 = 62.5%.

Another way to look at this problem is that for every 40 seconds (for every two units that
come through Station 5), both workers in Station 5 are busy for 25 seconds, thus the
utilization of this station is 25/40 =62.5%.

C5: F
We know that Station 6 is the bottleneck, with 6 machines/worker and an activity time of
120 seconds. We also know that there are 22 workers on a line. Station 6 sets the
“speed” of the conveyor at 20 seconds per machine/worker, so the total time for a pen to
move through the system = 20 seconds * 22 machines/worker = 440 seconds.

(Note that this question has the conveyor-belt condition, that is, the conveyor belt moves
one station forward every CT of the system, which is, 20 seconds. The amount of time for
one unit to spend in each station equals the number of workers in this station multiplied
by the cycle time of the system: each worker takes turns to obtain one unit that feeds into
the station every cycle time of the system (20 seconds in this example), and each worker
takes turns to have their work-in-process being routed out using the conveyor belt every
cycle time of the system. In other words, after one unit is routed to one worker, the
second unit will be routed to the second worker, and so on. The first unit will be not
routed out of the station until every worker in the same station already has one unit. After
the first unit is routed out of the station, the second unit will be routed out of the station,
and so on. For instance, the amount of time for the first unit to go through Station 5 is
2*20 = 40 seconds. )

C6: A
We are given the information that the first pen takes 3 minutes to flow through the empty
system, our R = 5500 pens/day or 5.73 pens/minute, and our desired quantity = 1500
pens. Therefore, the total time to process the pens = time for the first pen to flow through
an empty system + (x-1)/R = 3 + (1499/5.73) = 264.64 minutes.

C7: C
Currently, the process capacity is 0.05 pens/second. We can remove a worker from the
following Stations:
Station 3 - process capacity becomes 4 pens/72 seconds = 0.056 pens/second > 0.05
Station 4 - process capacity becomes 3 pens/44 seconds = 0.068 pens/second > 0.05
Station 7 - process capacity becomes 2 pens/30 seconds = 0.067 pens/second > 0.05

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Thus, we can remove a total of 3 workers without affecting the process capacity of the
line.
(Note that this is similar to our robustness question for the work method design problem. What is
impact of one employee’s absence on the system CT? Convert this to our regular way of using
actual CT <=required CT to see from which stations the number of people can be decreased but
the actual cycle time does not exceed the required CT, 20 sec/unit).

C8: F
We know from question 2 that the capacity of the plant is 2880 pens/day. With 2 shifts
and a total of 22 workers per shift, our labor costs = (22 workers)*(16 hours/day) *
($10/day) = $3520. So, the direct labor cost per pen = $3520 / 2880 pens = $1.22 per
pen. Note that the direct labor cost includes not only the cost for the productive hours of
all labor, but also the cost for the idling hours of all labor (one important reason to
increase the efficiency of the line and the utilization of the labor).

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Part D

D1: C
We must calculate capacity at each step:
Sanding: process capacity = 1 deck/3 minutes = 20 decks/hour
Painting: S = 15 and time to process batch = 2*50=100 minutes, so process capacity =
50/(15+100) = .435 decks/minute = 26.1 decks/hour
Drying: process capacity = 50 decks/30 minutes = 100 decks/hour
Therefore, Sanding is the bottleneck and the process capacity of the entire process = 20
decks/hour.

Another way to compute the process capacity is as follows:

 CT of the sanding step is 3 minutes/deck
 CT of the paining step is (15minutes+2 minutes/deck *50 decks)/50 decks = 2.3
minutes/deck
 CT of the drying step is 30 minutes/50 decks = 0.6 minutes/deck
So the CT of the entire process is max{3 minutes/deck, 2.3 minutes/deck, 0.6
minutes/deck} = 3 minutes/deck, which means that process capacity is 60 (minute/hour)/
(3 minutes/deck ) = 20 decks/hour.

D2: C
Inventory = I = 4 batches = 4*50 = 200 decks. The process is not demand-constrained,
so the flow rate R = process capacity = 20 decks/hour. Using Little’s Law flow time T =
I / R = 200 decks/20 decks/hour = 10 hours.

D3: B
The requested capacity is defined by the process capacity of the entire process = 20
decks/hour. The available capacity = 100 decks/hour, so utilization = 20/100 = 20%.

D4: D
Since we do not want to decrease the flow rate (which means that we want to keep the
same cycle time) but we want to reduce the inventory (which is WIP in the terminology in
Little’s law), this means that using Little’s Law, the flow time (MLT) has to be decreased.
We can do so by reducing the batch size to a point where the process capacity at Painting
= process capacity of the bottleneck (Sanding) = 20 decks/hour or 1 deck/3 minutes.
Solving for B: 1/3 = B / (15 + 2B) => B = 15 decks.

D5: D
A new dryer will not affect the flow rate, since process capacity is defined by the
bottleneck, which is Sanding. Certainly we don’t want decreased flow rate, and
increasing the batch size is also not desirable. In fact, the purchase of a new dryer does
not make sense because we don’t need additional capacity in this step.

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D6: C
We know the process capacity at Sanding, Painting, and Drying. We now need to
calculate the process capacities at Truck Mounting and Wheel Mounting in order to
determine whether we have a new bottleneck:
Truck Mounting: process capacity = 1 skateboard / 2 minutes = 30 skateboard/hour
Wheel Mounting: Set-up time = 10 minutes + 1*50 minutes = 60 minutes. Time to
process the batch of 50 = (1.5 minutes)*50 = 75 minutes. Therefore the process capacity
= 50 / (60+75) = .37 skateboards/minute = 22.22 skateboards/hour.
The bottleneck is still Sanding at 20 decks/hour.

D7: G
We know that without Wheel Mounting, the batch size can be reduced to 15 decks (or
skateboards, now that we are making complete skateboards). However, we need to
determine whether Wheel Mounting is a constraint. At 15 skateboards, the process
capacity at Wheel Mounting = 15 / (10 + (15*1) + (15*1.5) = 15 /(25+22.5) = .32
skateboard/minute = 18.95 skateboards/hour. Therefore, we must find another batch size
since 15 is too small – the process capacity will change. So, we set process capacity of
Wheel Mounting = 20 skateboards/hour or 1 skateboard/3 minutes: 1/3 = B / (10 + 1B
+ 1.5B). Solving for B, we obtain B = 20 skateboards.

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