MSM 206: Operations Management

Suggested Solution of Assignment 1

1. A government department, on average, completes 300 projects per year. According to a
report, the number of projects currently on the departments plate is 588. The department
head claims that average time to complete a project is under six months. Do you have any
reason to disagree?

Solution:
Flow rate =300 projects per year;
Inventory =588 projects.
According to Littles law, Flow time =Inventory / Flow rate =588 / 300 =1.96 year.
We cannot agree with the claim of the department head.

2. Product P is made in-house by assembling two parts (parts 1 and 2): Part 1 is first processed
on machine A for 15 minutes per unit and then processed on Machine B for 10 minutes per
unit. Part 2 is processed on machine C for 20 minutes per unit. An assembler then assembles
the two parts, with the assembly operation taking 15 minutes. The process flow diagram is
given below.










(a) What is the capacity of the process? Where is the bottleneck?

(b) Assuming that the process is running at maximum capacity, calculate the utilization of
each resource.

(c) Suppose the assembler has come up with an innovation that can reduce assembly time
from 15 to 10 minutes. As a result of this innovation, will the process capacity
increase, decrease or remain unchanged? J ustify your answer.

Solution:
(a) Capacity of machine A =4 units per hour;
Capacity of machine B =6 units per hour;
Capacity of machine C =3 units per hour;
Capacity of assembly operation =4 units per hour.
The bottleneck of sub line with machines A & B is machine A and the resulting capacity
is 4 units per hour.
Because capacity of machine C is less than that of sub line with machines A & B and
capacity of assembly operation is larger than that of machine C, we know the bottleneck
of the whole process is machine C and the resulting capacity is 3 units per hour.
(b) Utilization of machine A =3/4 =75%;
Utilization of machine B =3/6 =50%;
Machining
Part 1 on A
Machining
Part 1 on B
Machining
Part 2 on C
Assembling
Parts 1 and 2
Utilization of machine C =3/3 =100%;
Utilization of assembly operation =3/4 =75%.
(c) With the innovation, capacity of assembly operation becomes 6 units per hour. Because
the assembly operation is not the bottleneck of the process, such innovation has no impact
on the process capacity.

3. American Vending Inc. (AVI) supplies vended food to a large university. Because students
often kick the machines out of anger and frustration, management has a constant repair
problem. The machines break down on an average of three per hour, and the breakdowns are
distributed in a Poisson manner. Downtime costs the company $25 per hour per machine, and
each maintenance worker gets $4 per hour. One worker can service machines at an average
rate of five per hour, distributed exponentially; two works working together can service seven
per hour, distributed exponentially; and a team of three workers can do eight per hour,
distributed exponentially. What is the optimal maintenance crew size for servicing the
machines? (Hint: Use the excel file Note04B_Qmmc.xls, sheet MMc)

Solution: (See Textbook Page 260 Solved Problem 2)
One worker: the average number of machines in the system is 1.5 machines, and the
corresponding cost is 1.5 x $25 +1 x $4 =$41.50.
Two workers: the average number of machines in the system is 0.75 machines, and the
corresponding cost is 0.75 x $25 +2 x $4 =$26.75.
Three workers: the average number of machines in the system is 0.6 machines, and the
corresponding cost is 0.6 x $25 +3 x $4 =$27.00.
Hence, the optimal maintenance crew size is two workers.

4. A project has been defined to contain the following list of activities, along with their required
times for completion:
Task Time Required (weeks) Immediate Predecessors
A 3 -
B 4 A
C 2 A
D 6 B, C
E 5 C
F 3 C
G 7 E
H 5 E, F
I 8 D, G, H

(a) Draw the critical path diagram.

(b) Show the early start, early finish, late start, and late finish times.

(c) Show the critical path.

Solution: