Question:
Michigan Machining Company machines metal parts for the automotive industry. Under the traditional manufacturing approach, the parts are machined through two processes: finishing and milling. Parts are produced in batch sizes of 60 parts. A part need 5 minutes in milling and 7 minutes in finishing. The move time between the two important operations for a complete batch is 10 minutes.
Under the just-in-time philosophy, the part is produced in a cell that adds both the milling and finishing operations. The operating time is unchanged; thus, the batch size is reduced to 5 parts and the move time is eliminated.
Evaluate the value-added, the value-added ratio, and total lead time under the traditional and just-in-time manufacturing methods. If needed, round percentages to one decimal place.