Operations Management Home Work Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Question 1

What would be the bottleneck resource?

            The bottleneck resource is identified below:

BOTTLENECK IDENTIFICATION
Average Truck Delivery 75 bbls  
Barrels of berries at peak harvest 19000    
Number of trucks 253.3    
Total Hours 12 Hours  
Trucks per hour 21.1    
Minutes per truck arrival 2.8 Minutes  
Barrels per minute 26.4    
       
26.4 barrels per minutes x 70% wet berry ratio 18.5    
26.4 barrels per minutes x 30% dry berry ratio 7.9    
       
Plant Capacity (wet berries ) 600BBS/hour= 10 bbls/min
Plant Capacity (Dry berries) 1500bbs/hour= 25  
       
Dry berries arrival 7.92 < 25 No Bottleneck
Wet berries arrival 18.47 > 10 Bottleneck
Total wet berries 13300    
Wet berries plant capacity 600 bbls/hour  
Total time required in 1 day to complete 19000 barrels 22.17 hours  

Question 2

What would be the plant’s process capacity?

            The process capacity for the shown below:

PLANT'S PROCESS CAPACITY
RESOURCE POOL EFFECTIVE CAPACITY,BBLS/HR
Dumping Capacity    
Kiwanee dumpers 5  
Avg time to dump 7.5 minutes
Avg weight in trucks 75 bbls
Total dumping capacity 3000  
Holding Capacity    
Total holding (1-16) 4000  
Total Holding (17-24) 2000  
Total Holding (25-27) 1200  
DE stoning Capacity    
Total de-stoning capacity 4500  
DE chaffing capacity    
Total de-chaffing capacity 4500  
Separator Capacity    
No. of Separator units 3  
Total separator capacity 1200  
Bagging station capacity    
Maximum output each day 8000 bbls
Total capacity 667 bbls/day
Bulk bin loading capacity    
No. of loaders for bulk bin 4  
Total capacity 800 bbls/day
Bulk truck loading capacity    
No. of loaders of bulk trucks 2  
Total capacity 2000 bbls/day
TOTAL PLANT PROCESS CAPACITY 23867 bbls/day

Question 3

Assuming that 12,600 wet berries arrive per day (over a 12 hour day from 7am to 7pm) – does the time at which the plant finishes processing the last wet berry change? Why?

            If we assume that the total wet berries arriving per day is reduced to 12600 from 13300 as previously calculated, then based upon the plant capacity of 600 bbls per hour, the time when the last wet berry is processed is changed and it is decreased as seen below.

Total wet berries arriving per day (assumed) 12600    
Wet berries plant capacity 600    
Total time required in 1 day to complete 19000 barrels 21.00 hours  

            The reason for this is that the bottleneck has been reduced from the process to a certain extent. It is the bottleneck of the process, which is causing delay in the processing of the wet berries at peak time period. The management needs to take steps to remove this bottleneck from the process for instance, the holding bin at level 1 (17-24) should be converted into the wet berries and should not include the dry berries. Another recommendation for the management is to invest over the temporary storage and in this manner to reduce the truck wait time by 0-20 minutes. The mangement needs to improve the scheduling of the process so that the bottleneck is reduced and utilization is increased for the complete process.

Escort Service

Question 1

On average, what fraction of the time is the escort busy? That is, if a student calls, what is the likelihood that the escort is currently occupied with another student?

Standard Deviation for Call Receiving 15 Minutes
Standard Deviation for picking & dropping a student 15 Minutes
     
Total Available Time 1440 Minutes
Escort Busy Time 15 Minutes
Maximum fraction of escort busy time of total time 2.08%  
Minimum fraction of escort busy time of total time 0.00%  
Average fraction of escort busy time of total time 1.04%  

Question 2

How much time does it take, on average, from the moment a student calls for an escort to the moment the student arrives at her/his destination?

Escort Busy Time 15 Minutes
Average time to pick & drop a student 15 Minutes
Standard deviation for picking & dropping a student 15 Minutes
Maximum average time from student calling & arriving at his destination 45 Minutes
Minimum average time from student calling & arriving at his destination 15 Minutes
Average time from student calling & arriving at his destination 30 Minutes

Question 3

Suppose that the escort service purchases a scooter that the escort can use to pick-up and transport students. This reduces the average amount of time it takes for him to pick up and transport a student to 5 minutes, although the coefficient of variation of this time remains 1. Under this new system, how much time does it take, on average, from the moment a student calls for an escort to the moment the student arrives at her/his destination?

Operations Management Home Work Case Solution

Escort Busy Time 5 Minutes
Average time to pick & drop a student 5 Minutes
Standard deviation for picking & dropping a student 5 Minutes
Maximum average time from student calling & arriving at his destination 15 Minutes
Minimum average time from student calling & arriving at his destination 0 Minutes
Average time from student calling & arriving at his destination 15 Minutes

Operations in Workplace

Question 1

Briefly describe your current job or most recent job/position – what are your responsibilities and how would you describe your contribution in the ‘value added transformations’ within your organization..............

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