Iowa Public Television

Challenge Question Number 2 for Senior CNC Programmer #1181

Clearly describe what you expect from the students:
The new “Gig-a-Dog” hot dog machine has just been released from the engineering department with a deadline only eight weeks away. The following options for producing the parts are available to you:

1) Write programs for each part before the deadline (which will require hiring part-time help and/or working overtime).

2) Hire contract programmers to program some of the parts.

3) Temporarily make parts the old fashioned way in our Research & Development department.

4) Temporarily make parts the old fashioned way in our manufacturing department.

5) Temporarily contract parts with outside vendors.

Brainstorm which option offers the best solution, short and long term, for the release of this machine.

In order to give the teacher some guidance in evaluating the student's project(s); list some tips that may help to assess the student's work:
Your ultimate goal is customer satisfaction. Producing machines of the highest quality is one of the things we can do to help bring this to pass. Low variation from the blueprint is the first step in building a quality machine. Some of the options listed above do not lend themselves to low variation and consequently produce poor quality.

1) Overtime is probably a better option than hiring someone part time. They already know your normal processes. The disadvantage with part-time help is they don’t know how you normally do things. If an operator has to learn another style of programming, there is a greater chance for error as well as more time to set up and run a given part.

2) Some of the same problems arise here as with the part- time programmer. Unless you have someone you always use in this capacity, this might not be the best option.

3) This is a short term solution that will buy some time.

4) This is another short term solution that will buy some time.

5) This will provide immediate relief as well as long term balance. When business is very good, you can send parts to these vendors. If business slows down, you can bring work back in to avoid lay offs in your company.