Lingnan University

Department of Computing and Decision Sciences

The First Term, 2022–2023
BUS 2211: Operations Management
Solution to Assignment 1

Question 1 (Productivity) [20 marks]

Answer:

1. The labor productivity of the laptop computers in July is computed as

Labor productivity of the Output $2; 500 600

= = 28:94.
laptop computers in July Labor Cost 12 $60 9 8

2. The calculation of the productivity for the desktop computers is given as follows:

(a) The labor productivity of the desktop computers in July is computed as

Labor productivity of the $2; 000 750

= 23:85.
desktop computers in July 12 $60 11 8 1 $60 1 8

(b) The productivity was higher for the laptop computers in July.

3. For the multi-factor productivity, the computation is given as follows:

(a) The multi-factor productivity of the company in July is

Multi-factor productivity Output

=
of the company in July Labor+Materials + Overhead
$2; 500 600 + $2; 000 750
=
(12 $60 20 8 1 $60 1 8) + ($1; 600 600 + $1; 200 750) + $500 20
1:51.

(b) This multi-factor productivity can be explained as follow: For every $1 input of labor,
material, and overhead, the company can generate $1:51 of output (sales revenue).

4. The labor productivity of the laptop computers in August is computed as

Labor productivity of the $2; 500 520

= 28:21.
laptop computers in August 12 $60 8 8

Thus, the productivity growth— the percentage change in labor productivity of laptop computers—
from July to August can be found as

Productivity growth of laptop 28:21 28:94

= 2:52%,
computers from July to August 28:94

1
BUS 2211: Operations Management Solution to Assignment 1

which implies that, from July to August, the company experienced a decline in the labor pro-
ductivity of laptop computers.

Question 2 (Layout) [30 marks]

Answer:

1. The precedence graph is plotted as follows.

2. The minimum possible number of workstations (Nmin ) is obtained as follows:

P
task time 42 :
Nmin = = = 3:5 = 4 workstations.
cycle time 12

The task assignment is made in the following table:

Time Will Assign Revised Time
Station Eligible Idle
Remaining Fit (Task Time) Remaining
1 12 A, C A, C A (6) 6
6 B, C B, C C (5) 1
1 B, E, F – – 1 1
2 12 B, E, F B, E, F F (7) 5
5 B, E B, E B (5) 0 0
3 12 D, E D, E E (4) 8
8 D, G D, G G (4) 4
4 D D D (3) 1
1 H – – 1 1
4 12 H H H (8) 4 4

3. The e¢ ciency of the process is obtained as follows:

total idle time 1+0+1+4

E¢ ciency = 1 =1 = 87:5%.
N cycle time 4 12

4. Based on the result obtained from the above table, we plot the following …gure to show the
arrangement.

2
BUS 2211: Operations Management Solution to Assignment 1

5. The rate of output is computed as follows:

OT 480 60
Output rate = = = 2400 refrigerators/day.
CT 12