RAD Technologies inc is considering a new just in time ...



RAD Technologies inc is considering a new just in time product cell. The present manufacturing approach produce a product in four separate steps. The production batch sizes are 50 units. The process time for each step is as follows:

Process step 1        4 minutes

Process step 2        7 minutes

Process step 3       9 minutes

Process step 4 5 minutes

The time required to moved each batch between step is 12 minutes. In addition the time to move raw materials to process step 1 is also 12 minutes, and the time to move completed units from process step 4 to finished goods inventory is 12 minutes.

The new just in time layout will allow the company to reduce the batch sizes from 50 units to 30 units. The time required to move each batches between steps and the inventory locations will be reduced to 2 minutes. The processing time in each step will stay the same.

Determine the value added, non value added, total lead time, and the value added ratio under the present and proposed production approaches. Round whole percentages to one decimal place.

Ex 12 -1 the chief executive officer(CEO) of Gemini Inc. has jus returned from a management seminar describing the benefits of the just in time philosophy. The CEO issued the following statement after returning from the conference:

This company will become a just in time manufacturing company. Presently, we have too much inventory. To become just in time , we have to eliminate the excess inventory. Therefore , I want all employees to begin reducing inventories until we are just in time. Thank you for your corporation

How would you respond to CEO’s statement

The CEO must not have been listening very closely at the conference. Just-in-time is not primarily an inventory reduction method. Just-in-time is a process improvement philosophy that focuses on reducing time, cost, poor quality, and uncertainty from a process. Large inventories are merely a symptom of poorly designed processes. Thus, the CEO’s statement is naive. The company must first remove the reasons for inventory. These causes are poor quality, large setup times, unreliable equipment, poor employee relationships, poor layout design (process focus), and poor supplier relationships. When these are improved, then the inventory level can be reduced, lead times can be shortened, and the company can begin pull manufacturing. If the employees follow the CEO’s orders without making the process improvements, the plant will likely suffer reduced productivity.

In addition, the CEO has not provided the training or action plan for moving to just-in-time. The CEO has only commanded that it be done. This will create anxi-ety in the workforce, and it is not consistent with employee involvement.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download