Iowa Public Television

Challenge Question Number 1 for Industrial Engineer #1134

Clearly describe what you expect from the students:
Using the above information, make a bar graph with the horizontal axis showing the four operations and the vertical axis showing time. Draw a dotted line to show the production pace required. Can each of the operators get his/here work completed under the production rate required? Does the balance of work between the operators appear to be reasonable for this production level? Why or why not?

The marketing department has decided that the inventories of our finished product are too low and sales are expected to grow steadily in the near future. They ask the manufacturing department to change the production level to 148 units per day in order to meet the demand for our product. What is the new production rate required? Draw a dotted line of your graph showing the production rate.

How does the work balance for the operators look now? Can they make the rate required? If our assembly line is unable to make the needed production rate, discuss what options are available to solve this problem.

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:
Answer: 8 hours X 60 min per hour = 480 minutes per shift
Production run time = 480 min per shift – 30 minutes break – 5 minutes clean-up
Production run time = 445 minutes per shift
Production Rate = Production run time/Production required
Production Rate = 445 minutes/100 washers = 4.45 minutes per washer

Assume that this assembly line has four operations with one assembly line worker at each station. The labor that is required to do the work at each of the operations is as follows:
Operator 1: 4 minutes 22 seconds
Operator 2: 4 minutes 10 seconds
Operator 3: 4 minutes 17 seconds
Operator 4: 4 minutes 27 seconds