Assignment: JIT and Lean Operations

Discussion & Review Questions

1: What is the ultimate goal of a lean system? What are the supporting goals? What are the building blocks?

2: What are some of the main obstacles that must be overcome in converting from a traditional system to lean?

3: Certain Japanese have claimed that Henry Ford's assembly line provided some of the rationale for lean. What features of assembly lines are common to lean systems?

4:What are the benefits and risks of small lot sizes?

Problems

1: A JIT system uses Kanban cards to authorize movement of incoming parts. In one portion of the system, a work center uses an average of 100 parts per hour while running. The manager has assigned an inefficiency factor of .20 to the center. Standard containers are designed to hold six dozen parts. The cycle time for parts containers is about 105 minutes. How many containers are needed?

2: What cycle time would match capacity and demand if demand is 120 units a day, there are two shifts of 480 minutes each, and workers are given three half-hour breaks during each shift, one which is for lunch or dinner?