Quality Technology $($QT$),$ Inc. is a small to medium$-$sized company that was founded by two first$-$year

college students. They started the company to produce a customized knockoff real estate board game

similar to the popular Parker Brothers game Monopoly. Initially, they created the board game based on

popular local landmarks in their small college town to help pay for their college expenses. The game

turned out to be a great success, and they enjoyed running their own business so much that they decided

to pursue it full$-$time after graduation.

QT has grown rapidly over the last couple of years, designing and producing customed real estate trading

games for universities, municipalities, chambers of commerce, and recently even some businesses. Orders

range from a couple of hundred games to an occasional order for several thousand.

QT$$s orders are either for a new game board that has not been produced or repeat orders for a previously

made game. If the order is for a new game, the client first meets with a graphic designer from QT$$s art

department and the actual game board is designed. The board$$s design can take a few hours to several

weeks, depending on how much the client has thought about the game before the meeting. All design

work is done on personal computers.

After the client approves the design, a copy of the computer file containing the design is transferred

electronically to the printing department. Workers in the printing department load the file onto their

personal computers and print out the board design on special decals, $19\mathrm{.}25$ inches by $19\mathrm{.}25$ inches, using

high$-$quality color inkjet printers. The side of the printed decal is usually light gray, and the other side

contains an adhesive covered by a removable backing.

The printing department is also responsible for printing property cards, game cards, and money. The

money is printed on colored paper using standard laser printers. Ten copies of a particular denomination

are printed on each $8\mathrm{.}5-$inch by $11-$inch piece of paper. Money is then moved to the cutting department,

where it is cut into individual bills. The property cards and game cards are produced similarly, the major

difference being that they are printed on a material resembling a poster board.

In addition to cutting money, game cards, and property cards, the cutting department also cuts cardboard

that serves as the substrate for the actual game board. The game board consists of two boards created by

cutting a single $19$ x $19\mathrm{.}25$ x inch piece of cardboard in half, yielding two boards, each measuring $19\mathrm{.}25$ x

$19\mathrm{.}5$ inches. After being cut, game boards, money, and cards are stored in totes in a work$-$in$-$process area

and delivered to the appropriate station on the assembly line as needed.

Due to its explosive growth, the QT assembly line was never formally planned. It simply evolved into the

$19$ stations shown in Table $1.$

Questions

$1.$ What type of process does QT use during the Design phase? What process is most likely used for

printing?

$2.$ What is the cycle time of the $19-$station line? What is the efficiency of the current process?

$3.$ What is the line$$s maximum daily capacity if the annual demand is $20,000$ units, assuming it

operates for an $8-$hour shift with less than two $15-$minute breaks? If QT works $300$ days per year,

what is its annual capacity? How does its capacity compare with a $10\%$ increase in projected

demand in the next three years? Show the projected demand for the next three years. $20,000$

units should not be used to calculate the cycle time.

$4.$ Assign tasks to workstations according to the "greatest number of following tasks" approach.

$5.$ Calculate the efficiency of the new process.

Table $1$ Time to

Workstation Task$($s$)$ Performed at Station Perform Immediate

Number Tasks Predecessor

$1$ Get box bottom and place plastic money tray in box bottom. Take $10$ seconds $--$

two dice bin and place in box bottom in area not take up by tray.

$2$ Count out $35$ plastic houses and place in box bottom. $35$ seconds $1$

$3$ Count out $15$ plastic hotels and place in box bottom. $15$ seconds $1$

$4$ Take one game piece from each of eight bins and place them in $15$ seconds $1$

box bottom.

$5$ Take one property card from each of $28$ bins. Place rubber band $45$ seconds $1$

around property cards and place cards in box bottom.

$6$ Take one orange card from each of $15$ bins. Place rubber band $20$ seconds $1$

around cards and place cards in box bottom.

$7$ Take one yellow card from each of $15$ bins. Take orange cards $35$ seconds $6$

from box and remove rubber band. Place yellow cards on top of

orange cards. Place rubber band around yellow and orange cards

and place cards in box bottom.

$8$ Count out $25$ $$500$ bills and attach to cardboard strip with rubber $30$ seconds $1$

band. Place money in box bottom.

$9$ Count out $20$ $$100$ bills. Take $$500$ bills from box bottom and $40$ seconds $8$

remove rubber band. Place $$100$ bills on top of $$500$ bills. Attach

rubber band around money and place in box bottom.

$10$ Count