Management of Organizations
COMM 1006
Operations
Thicketwood Ltd
Problem Statement
The current production process that Thicketwood Ltd is utilizing can no longer keep with the demand of custom kitchen cabinets. Management must implement a new step to the production line to increase efficiency; however, they must also maintain quality as the customers that are purchasing these cabinets expect top quality for the amount of money they are paying.
Problems/Sub problems/Issues
In the Thicketwood Ltd case there are a few problems and issues that need to be addressed immediately in order to keep up with demand. The current process that involves strictly human labor is no longer efficient as the demand for cabinets continues to…show more content… In order to balance this line, each step will be operating at different efficiencies. We have also decided to produce 2,250 cabinets a year which will be beneficial if the forecasted demand is slightly off and if it is not we will have an additional 250 cabinets in inventory to be sold the following year. Table 1.3 shows a balanced line.
Table 1.3 | # of employees | Efficiency | Per Shift | Per Year | Step 1 | 1 | 45% | 9 | 2,250 | Step 2 | 2 | 67.37% | 9 | 2,250 | Step 3 | 1 | 90% | 9 | 2,250 | Step 4 | 2 | 84.6% | 9 | 2,250 | Step 5 | 1 | 75% | 9 | 2,250 | | Total: 7 | | | |
The line is now balanced; however, each step requires a different efficiency in order to produce 2,250. In step 1, the 1 employee will only have to work 3.6 hours each of the 5 days for 50 weeks to complete 2,250 cabinets. In step 2 each employee will have to put forth 5.44 hours. In step 3 the CNC router will be working all 8 hours with the operator spending his entire shift there. Step 5 requires both workers to work 6.67 hours and step 5 requires the 1 employee to work 6 hours to complete his amount of 2,250 per year. Although they will not need to spend their entire shifts on the production line, the company is still not obligated to cut their hours down to part time. Each employee will be given miscellaneous tasks to complete once they are done their respective duties. Tasks
