The Harvey Motorcycle Company produces three models: the Tiger, a sure-looted dirt bike; the LX2000, a nimble cafe racer: and the Golden, a large interstate tourer. This month’s master production schedule calls for the production of 54 Golden’s, 42 LX2000s, and 30 Tigers per 7-hour shift.
a. What average cycle time is required for the assembly line to achieve the production quota in 7 hours?
b. If mixed-model scheduling is used how many of each model will be produced before the production cycle is repeated?
c. Determine a satisfactory production sequence for the ultimate in small-lot production: one unit.
d. The design of a new model, the Cheetah, includes features from the Tiger, LX2000, and Golden models. The resulting blended design has an indecisive character and is expected to attract sonic sales from the other models. Determine a mixed-model schedule resulting in 52 Golden’s, 39 LX2000s, 26 Tigers, and 13 Cheetahs per 7-hour shift. Although the total number of motorcycles produced per day will increase only slightly, what problem might be anticipated in implementing this change from the production schedule indicated in pan (b)?