Mantle manufactures plastic-covered steel fencing in two styles: standard and heavy. Both products pass through the same
Question:
Mantle manufactures plastic-covered steel fencing in two styles: standard and heavy. Both products pass through the same processes, involving steel-forming and plastic bonding.
Standard style fencing sells at £18 a roll and the heavy style at £24 a roll. Variable costs per roll are £16 and £21 respectively. There is an unlimited market for the standard style but demand for the heavy style is limited to 1,300 rolls a year. Factory operations are limited to 2,400 hours a year in each of the two production processes.
Style | Process hours per roll | Process hours per roll |
Steel-forming dept | Plastic bonding dept | |
Standard | 0.6 | 0.4 |
Heavy | 0.8 | 1.2 |
Required:
- Identify all the constraints from the information provided.
- Using the graphical approach determine the production mix which will maximise total contribution.
- Confirm how much contribution will be generated from the point calculated in part (b).
- From the constraint management perspective, discuss the limitations of the linear programming approach.
In relation to the scarcity of resources, discuss the main factors that are considered for short- vs. long-term constraint management?
Fundamentals of Physics
ISBN: 978-0471758013
8th Extended edition
Authors: Jearl Walker, Halliday Resnick