• Calculate the capacity of each machine center and the capacity of the system.
• Analyze where the focus of the company's efforts should be if Beck wants to expand capacity. Determine how much extra capacity he can get without causing another operation to become the bottleneck.
• Suggest ways Beck can expand capacity without purchasing new equipment.

The Beck manufacturing Case Study

Al Beck, president of Beck manufacturing, wants to determine the capacity of his facility, which produces steering gears for auto manufacturers. He has asked you to sort through the data and determine the capacity of the system and how that capacity may be increased. The operation is a product layout that produces large numbers of nearly identical products. The process includes milling, grinding, boring, drilling, and assembling, in that order. Each finished product requires one operation on each type of machine. For example, each finished part is processed on one of the five milling machines, one of the seven grinding machines, etc.

The facility runs two 8-hour shifts per day, with a third shift for maintenance. The industrial engineering department has provided you with the following data on present operations. In addition, you have been told that assembly operations, while not unlimited, can be easily changed to meet the need.

Operation Number of Machines Run Time per Piece (min.) % Reject Rate
Milling 5 2 3
Grinding 7 3 5
Boring 3 1 2
Drilling 6 2.5 7