The Stik Pen Corporation assembles ball point pens, for its line of low priced office stationary products, on four assembly lines at its Tennessee facility. Each pen assembly line consists of seven stations connected by a high speed conveyor system and automated material handling equipment that move individual pen assemblies along a fully connected machine paced line. The overall flow is illustrated in Figure 1. See Table 1 for a summary of the process steps. 1. Cartridge/Ballpoint Assembly: A ballpoint assembly is attached to a pre-filled ink cartridge. The operator loads magazines of ballpoint assemblies and containers of cartridges onto the machine and monitors the process. 2. Insert Cartridge into Pen Assembly: An ink cartridge is inserted into the lower section of the pen molding (outer casing). 3. Pen Molding Assembly 1: The upper section of the pen molding is assembled. This involves insertion of a spring-loaded plunger. Each upper section also is matched to a lower section at this stage. 4. Pen Molding Assembly 2: The lower and upper sections of the pen molding are connected (screwed together). 5. Grip Assembly: The pen molding assembly is mated with a flexible rubber grip . 6. Inspect/Test: An automated measurement device checks key dimensions of each pen as it passes through the machine. A mechanical test of the cartridge operation is also carried out. Any defectives detected are automatically removed from the line. Defects however are so rare that do not impact any of the computations required to answer the exam questions. 7. Package: Each pen is individually packaged in a blister wrap plastic package. Table 1: Process Steps Station Task Activity Time (per pen/container) Number of Resources 1 Cartridge/Ballpoint Assembly 8 seconds 1 machine 1 worker 2 Insert Cartridge into Pen Molding 14 seconds 1 machine 1 worker 3 Pen Molding Assembly 1 72 seconds 5 machines* 5 workers 4 Pen Molding Assembly 2 44 seconds 4 machines* 4 workers 5 Grip Assembly 25 seconds 2 machines* 2 workers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pen Moldings (Upper) Ink Cartridges Pen Grips Ballpoint Assemblies Pen Moldings (Lower) 3 6 Inspect/Test 120 seconds 6 machines* 6 workers 7 Packaging 30 seconds 3 machines* 3 workers Table 1 Stik Pen Process Flow and Data for the Ballpoint Pen Assembly Line * Multiple machines work in parallel, i.e. flow is synchronized so that material is routed from the input conveyor to an individual machine for processing and the processed material is then fed to the output conveyor. A1. What is the daily capacity of a single line, assuming that it runs for 2 consecutive 8 hour shifts per day? A2. Assume that the average demand is 16,000 pens per day and the plant runs four lines on two 8-hour shifts per day. What is the utilization of Station 5, Grip Assembly? A3. Stik Pen is interested in reducing its labor costs for the pen assembly line by eliminating excess capacity on the line. They plan to do so by removing machines and workers at one or more stations on the line. What would be the maximum reduction of workers/machines they can make without reducing process capacity, with one line and two 8-hour shifts?