Assignment: Beck Manufacturing and Plant Capacity
Read the "Beck Manufacturing" case study. In a 3 to 4 pages paper, address the problems:
Case Study: Beck Manufacturing
Al Beck, president of Beck manufacturing, wants to determine the capacity of his facility, which produces steering gears for auto manufacturers. He has asked you to sort through the data and determine the capacity of the system and how that capacity may be increased. The operation is a product layout that produces large numbers of nearly identical products. The process includes milling, grinding, boring, drilling, and assembling, in that order. Each finished product requires one operation on each type of machine. For example, each finished part is processed on one of the five milling machines, one of the seven grinding machines, etc.
The facility runs two 8-hour shifts per day, with a third shift for maintenance. The industrial engineering department has provided you with the following data on present operations. In addition, you have been told that assembly operations, while not unlimited, can be easily changed to meet the need.
|
Operation
|
Number of Machines
|
Run Time per Piece (mm.)
|
% Reject Rate
|
|
Milling
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
|
Grinding
|
7
|
3
|
5
|
|
Boring
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
|
Drilling
|
6
|
2.5
|
7
|
i. Calculate the capacity of each machine center and the capacity of the system.
ii. If Beck wants to expand capacity, where should he focus the company's efforts? How much extra capacity can he get without causing another operation to become the bottleneck?
iii. How may Mr. Beck expand capacity without purchasing new equipment? Be specific.
iv. Analyze where the focus of the company's efforts should be if Beck wants to expand capacity. Determine how much extra capacity he can get without causing another operation to become the bottleneck.
v. Suggest ways Beck can expand capacity without purchasing new equipment.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.