Reference no: EM132273877
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. 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 60 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 - 4 minutes per deck
Painting - 15 minutes set-up and 3 minutes per deck
Drying - 30 minutes regardless of batch size
Sanding, painting, and drying each have one operator. Assume the following average inventory in sanding, the buffer, and painting: Sanding 1 batch; Buffer:2 batches; Painting: 1 batch. 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 60 decks?