Operations Management: Natural Blends

Operations Management - Case Study: Natural Blends
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PART A
Assume that the production system was running only one size of oranges. Consider just process steps two through four: extraction, filtration, and concentration.
 (2) (3) (4)


1a.How much orange juice concentrate can be processed in one 8-hour workday?
There is a bottleneck in the juice filtration process requiring half an hour for the filter change
= [8 hours-(1/2 set up* 4 filter set ups)]* 18,000 pounds per hour
=108,000 pounds per day
1b.Assume extraction had previously been setup for the size oranges being processed. How much idle time will there be in the extraction operation during one 8-hour workday?
If the extraction process followed the same schedule as the extraction process then would be need to shut down the operations for 30 minutes before it is restarted after having ran for 90 minutes.
The idle time= time for the filter setups for the 8 hour working day
= 0.5 hours* 4 filter setups/day= 2 hours/day
2a.If you could add storage capacity somewhere between steps two and four in this production line in order to increase daily output, where would you place it? How much storage would you add?
The ideal situation is to place the storage unit between filtration (3) and concentration (4) with a capacity of 3,000 pounds given that the production time differs from process to process between the two processes and so is the speed of movement.
At the time of filtration, this is 90/60*(20,000-18, 000)=3000.
2b. Why?
The need for the storage is that it helps in decoupling from one phase to the other while also improving the overall performance of the system. The storage will not increase the speed of the concentrator, but will improve the downtime processes.
It is noteworthy that the bottlenecks, production timeline as well as the maximum capacity for a day influence decisions on choosing any of the options.
3a- If the cost of adding storage was $30/pound and the cost of reducing setup time by 50% using additional fixtures was $20,000 for the filter process and $10,000 for the extraction process, what action would you recommend in order to maximize the output of this production line?
The extractor deals with one type of juice and having lesser set up time will have no effect on the production process. The production is dependent on the filtration set ups as well as the production in the concentration phase.
To increase the capacity, the company can increase the storage capacity, reduce the set up time by 50% alone or increase the storage capacity and reduce the filter set up time by 50% simultaneously.
3b. How much will your recommended improvement(s) cost? How much additional capacity do you create?
If the amount in filtration is 20,000 pounds per hour this is then 30,000 pounds per 90 minutes
In the case of 18, 000 pounds per hour in the concentration phase is 27,000 per 90 minutes
Filtration: 30, 000 pounds/ 90 min
Concentration: 27,000 pound/ 90 min
Excess in filtration is 3,000 pounds/ 90 mi...