Problem 1: Tammy is following the Kristen's success story and repeats the same business plan. Since she had heard that Kristen had limited production capacity because of her oven size, she has invested in a better and faster oven; her oven can cook a dozen cookies at 7 minutes. Tammy is not as experienced as Kristen in cookie making so it takes her 8 minutes to mix the dough. Tammy has a roommate who's as fast as Kristen's roommate and all the other steps are exactly the same as Kristen's cookie company.
- What is the capacity of Tammy's Cookie Company, in dozens of cookies per hour, when the order size is 1 dozen? Where is the bottleneck?
- What is the capacity of Tammy's Cookie Company, in dozens of cookies per hour, when the order size is 2 dozens? Where is the bottleneck? For parts c) and d), assume that Tammy has 2 ovens.
- What is the capacity of Tammy's Cookie Company, in dozens of cookies per hour, when the order size is 1 dozen? Where is the bottleneck?
- What is the capacity of Tammy's Cookie Company, in dozens of cookies per hour, when the order size is 2 dozens? Where is the bottleneck?
- Again assume that Tammy has only 1 oven and order size is one dozen. Without adding any new resources how can you increase the capacity and by how much? (Hint: cross-training!!)
Problem 2: You and your roommate have timed the necessary physical operations. The first physical production step is to wash out the electric mixer's bowl and beaters from the previous batch, add the ingredients to the bowl, and turn on the mixer to mix the ingredients. The electric mixer can hold and mix ingredients for up to three dozen cookies. You then spoon the cookies, one dozen at a time, onto a cookie tray. These activities take 6 minutes for the washing and mixing steps, regardless of how many cookies are being made in the batch. That is, to mix enough dough and ingredients for three dozen cookies takes the same 6 minutes as for one dozen cookies. However, spooning the cookies onto the tray takes 2 minutes per tray.
The next step, performed by your roommate, is to put the cookies in the oven and set the thermostat and timer, which in total takes about 1 minute. The cookies bake for the next 9 minutes. So total baking time is 10 minutes, during the first minute of which your roommate is busy setting the oven. Because the oven only holds one tray, a second dozen takes an additional 10 minutes to bake.
Your roommate also performs the last steps of the process by first removing the cookies from the oven and putting them aside to cool for 5 minutes, then carefully packing them in a box and accepting payment. Removing the cookies from the oven takes a negligible amount of time, but it must be done promptly. It takes 2 minutes to pack each dozen and about 1 minute to accept payment for the order.