Reference no: EM133183548

Strategies in Service Operations - Project 1

Project Description:

Consider the following production process for manufacturing cupcakes. The first step of the process is mixing, where all of the ingredients are combined in the correct proportion to form dough. In the next step of the process, the dough is poured into cupcake cases in preparation for baking. The dough is then baked into cupcakes and subsequently must be cooled. The next step includes decorating the cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting. The final step of the process is packaging the cupcakes for the consumer.

The following table summarizes the production process along with the processing times at each step of the process. The process is highly automated, so assume that this is a machine-paced process with one machine available at each step.

Process step	Processing time (minutes per batch)
Mixing	16
Forming	8
Baking	20
Cooling	24
Decorating	12
Packing	15

Answer the following questions below. Refer to the formulas in your textbook, Chapter 3 pp. 47-59. Make sure to explain and demonstrate how you made the calculations.

1. What is the capacity of the decorating process step (in batches per hour)?
2. Which of the process steps is the bottleneck of the manufacturing process?
3. Assuming unlimited demand, what is the process flow rate (in batches per hour)?

Note: Round your answer to 2 decimal places.

1. Assuming unlimited demand, what is the utilization of the forming process step?

Note: Round your answer to a whole percent.

1. If the manufacturing process is currently full of work-in-process inventory, how long would it take to complete 100 batches of cupcakes?