Crew needed to achieve the required production rate

Reference no: EM132126941

A company is making plans for a new factory. One department has been allocated 12 semiautomatic machines. A small number (yet to be determined) of operators will be hired to provide the machines the needed occasional servicing (loading, unloading, adjusting, setup, and so no). A decision now needs to be made on how to organize the operators to do this. Three alternatives are being considered:

1. Assign each operator to his or her own machines.

2. Pool the operators so that any idle operator can take the next machine that needs servicing.

3. Combine the operators into a single crew that will work together on any machine needing servicing.

The running time (time between completing service on a machine and its requiring service again) of each machine is expected to have an exponential distribution, with a mean of 150 minutes. The service time is expected to have an exponential distribution, with a mean of 15 minutes for Alternatives 1 and 2, and 15 minutes divided by the number of operators for Alternative 3.

For the department to achieve the required production rate, there must be an average of at least 10 machines running at any time.

a. Suppose that Alternative 1 is used with a total of 3 operators (4 machines per operator), on average how many machines are down (either being serviced or waiting for service)? On average how many machines are running?

b. For Alternative 1, what is the maximum number of machines that can be assigned to a single operator while still achieving the required production rate?

c. What is the minimum number of operators needed to achieve the required production rate with Alternative 2?

d. For Alternative 3, what is the minimum size of the crew needed to achieve the required production rate?

e. Which Alternative maximizes the amount of time that all 12 machines are running?

Reference no: EM132126941

Questions Cloud

Methods of entering global competition runs : Which of the following methods of entering global competition runs the biggest risk of conflict between partners over who controls what?

Discuss the role of it on tesco revenue growth : Discuss the role of IT on Tesco revenue growth.

Main criteria for the typology of corporate crime : Define corporate crime. What are the main criteria for the typology of corporate crime?

Strategy of your chosen department and organization : Identify the mission, goals, aims, objectives and strategy of your chosen department/organization.

Crew needed to achieve the required production rate : what is the minimum size of the crew needed to achieve the required production rate?

Establish control limits for moving range control chart : Establish control limits for moving range control chart and a control chart for individuals, assuming that all points will plot inside the trial control limits.

Explain the role social media has played in your life : Identify whether your general impression of social media is positive or negative and explain the role social media has played in your life.

Defined by introducing servant leadership : Robert Greenleaf changed the way management was defined by introducing servant leadership in 1970.

Why is it challenge to define white collar crime : Which approach would be best suited for an online retailer, infinite or finite loading? Why is it a challenge to define white collar crime?

User Account

All Pages