Assignment:

Draw the Current State Value Stream Map for Alpha Manufacturing Company's production line.

Identify and document all material and information flows, showing amounts of WIP, modes of material handling and show the timeline. Points will be taken off for any missing information. Use the example discussed in the lecture video as the template for what information must be included (80 points).

Based on the Current State VSM, discuss your assessment of the process.

Are there any non-value adding activities/waste that are present?

Identify and describe the types of waste that can be readily observed.

Based on the information shown in the time line, comment on the process efficiency in terms of value added vs. non-value added activity times.

The Scenario:

Alpha Manufacturing Company produces widgets for Beta Products Inc. The monthly demand for widgets is 5000 units and 250 widgets are shipped daily by truck in pallets of 50 units. The company operates on a 20-day month and 8-hour (single shift) working day. At Alpha Manufacturing provides its operators two 15-minute breaks.

Beta Products sends their monthly forecasts to Alpha Manufacturing electronically. Daily orders are faxed.

Mild steel for making the widgets are supplied by Supplier Company on a weekly basis for 1250 units. Alpha Manufacturing sends it forecasts to Supplier Company 3 months in advance via the MRP system and updates it on a weekly basis through a fax.

The manufacturing operations required to produce widgets at Alpha Manufacturing are as follows:

Machining: this machine is shared with another family of products.

Cycle time = 30 seconds

Changeover time = 1 hour

Machine uptime = 70%

Operators required = 1

Inventory available ahead of machining = 1700 pieces.

Processing I: this operation is dedicated to making widgets.

Cycle time = 145 seconds

Machine uptime = 80%

Operators required = 1

Inventory available ahead of processing I = 1000 pieces.

Processing II: this operation, too, is dedicated to making widgets.

Cycle time = 132 seconds

Machine uptime = 90%

Operators required = 1

Inventory available ahead of processing II = 1600 pieces.

Assembly: this operation is dedicated to making widgets.

Cycle time = 115 seconds

Machine uptime = 95%

Operators required = 1

Inventory available ahead of processing = 970 pieces.

At all the above workstations, one piece of raw material is needed to make one widget.

Shipping: all finished widgets are removed from assembly and staged in shipping until delivery to customer. Two operators work in the shipping department which has an inventory of 1500 finished widgets.

Weekly production schedules are released to all workstations, except assembly, by production control. Daily orders are communicated to the assembly and shipping departments.