Quality Technology (QT), Inc.
was founded by two first-year college students to produce a knockoff real
estate board game similar to the popular Parker Brothers' game Monopoly.
Initially, the partners started the company to produce a board game based on
popular local landmarks in their small college town to help pay for their
college expenses. However, the game was a big success, and because they enjoyed
running their own business, they decided to pursue the business full-time after
graduation.
QT has grown rapidly over the
last couple of years, designing and producing custom real estate trading games
for universities, municipalities, chambers of commerce, and some businesses
lately. Orders range from a couple of hundred games to an occasional order for
several thousand.
QT's orders are either for a
new game board that has not been produced before or repeat orders for a previously
produced game. If the order is for a new game, the client first meets with a
graphic designer from QT's art department, and the actual game board is designed.
Depending on how much the client has thought about the game before the meeting,
the board's design can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. All
design work is done on personal computers.
After the client approves the
design, a copy of the design's computer file is transferred electronically to
the printing department. Workers in the printing department load the file onto
their own personal computers and print out the board design on special decals,
19.25 inches by 19.25 inches, using high-quality color inkjet printers. The decal
side that is printed on is usually light gray, and the other side contains an
adhesive covered by a removable backing.
The printing department is
also responsible for printing the property cards, game cards, and money. The
money is printed on colored paper using standard laser printers. Ten copies of
a particular denomination are printed on each 8.5-inch by 11-inch piece of
paper. The money is then moved to the cutting department, where it is then cut
into individual bills. The property cards and game cards are produced. Similarly,
the major difference is that they are printed on a material resembling a poster
board.
In addition to cutting the
money, game cards, and property cards, the cutting department also cuts the
cardboard that serves as the actual game board substrate. The game board
consists of two boards created by cutting a single 19-inch by 19.25-inch piece
of cardboard in half, yielding two boards, each measuring 19.25 inches by 19.5
inches. After being cut, game boards, money, and cards are stored in totes in a
work-in-process area and delivered to the appropriate station on the assembly
line as needed.
Because of its explosive
growth, QT's assembly line was never formally planned. It merely evolved into
the 19 stations shown in Table 1.
Questions
1. Briefly explain whether the QT uses a job shop, batch
processing, assembly, or continuous process to meet customer demand.
2. What is the cycle time of the 19-stations line? What
is its efficiency?
3. What is the line's maximum capacity per day, assuming
that it is operated for one 8-hour shift, less two 15-minute breaks? Assuming
that QT operates 200 days per year, what is its annual capacity?
4.
Assign
tasks to workstations according to the "greatest number of following
tasks" approach.
5. Calculate the efficiency of the new process (Check Table 1 in doc.)