BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE-PILANI, HYDERABAD CAMPUS

MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT (MF F242), 2016-2017, Second Semester

9th May, 2017 Comprehensive Examination (Part B)

Time: 2-5 PM Max. Marks: 50
General Instructions:
 All the questions are compulsory.
 Each question carries 10 marks
 There are no missing data in the given questions

1. (a) Assume two inventory problems with identical demand, holding cost, and setup cost. In one, goods
arrive instantly, but in the other goods arrive at a measurable rate. Which of these problems will have the
larger optimal order quantity? Why? [ 4]
(b) A food processor uses approximately 27,000 glass jars a month for its fruit juice product. Because of
storage limitations, a lot size of 4,000 jars has been used. Monthly holding cost is 18 cents per jar, and
reordering cost is $60 per order. The company operates an average of 20 days a month. [6]
i. What penalty is the company incurring by its present order size?
ii. The manager would prefer ordering 10 times each month but would have to justify any change in
order size. One possibility is to simplify order processing to reduce the ordering cost. What
ordering cost would enable the manager to justify ordering 10 times each month?
iii. Suppose that after investigating ordering cost, the manager is able to reduce it to $50 per order.
How else could the manager justify using an order size that would be consistent with ordering 10
times each month?

2. (a) Explain the difference between a gross requirements plan and a net requirements plan. [1]
(b) You have been given a bill of material for a bracket that is made up of a base, two springs, and four
clamps. The base is assembled from one clamp and two housings. Each clamp has one handle and one
casting. Each housing has two bearings and one shaft. There is no inventory on hand. Design a product
structure noting the quantities of each structure.
Determine the gross quantities needed for each item if you are to assemble 50 brackets.
Compute the net quantities needed if there are 25 of the base and 100 of the clamp in stock. [3+3+3]

3. (a) Weekly usage of a product is 8 units. Since the plant operates 50 weeks per year, this leads to annual
usage of 400 units. Setup cost is $40 and annualized carrying cost is $80. Weekly production of this
product is 12 units. Lead time is four weeks, and safety stock is one week's production. What is optimal
kanban size? What is the optimal number of kanbans? [6]
(b) Describe ABC inventory analysis briefly with help of a graph. [2]
(c) Several inventory models assume "independent demand." Explain what that term means and why the
assumption is important. [2]

4. Osprey Fabrication has the following aggregate demand requirements and other data for the upcoming four
quarters (given below).
Which of the following production plans is better: Plan A—chase demand by hiring and firing; Plan B—
pure level strategy, or Plan C—1350 level with the remainder by subcontracting? [3+3+4]
 Quarter Demand Previous quarter's output 1300 units
1 1400 Beginning inventory 0 units
2 1200 Stockout cost $50 per unit
3 1600 Inventory holding cost $10 per unit at end of quarter
4 1500 Hiring workers $40 per unit
Firing workers $80 per unit
Subcontracting cost $60 per unit
Unit cost $30 per unit
Overtime $15 extra per unit

5. (a) A practitioner of family medicine begins her day with five patients needing urgent care. She does a
very brief assessment of what each patient appears to need and estimates the time required of each. None
of the cases is life-threatening, and so she determines to take the five in the order that they arrived at the
clinic. The data for these patients, in the order they arrived, is Patient A, 30 minutes; Patient B, 40 minutes;
Patient C; 10 minutes; Patient D, 50 minutes; and Patient E, 15 minutes.
i. If it is now 8:00 a.m., at what time will the doctor be finished with all five of these emergencies?
ii. How much time will the five patients have collectively spent waiting?
iii. How much less time would have been spent waiting if the doctor had taken the patients according
to shortest processing time? [1+2+2]
(b) The operations manager of a body and paint shop has five cars to schedule for repair. He would like to
minimize the throughput time (makespan) to complete all work on these cars. Each car requires body work
prior to painting. The estimates of the times required to do the body and paint work on each are as follows:

Car Body Work (Hours) Paint (Hours)

A 8 7
B 9 4
C 7 9
D 3 4
E 12 5
i. Chart the progress of these five jobs through the two centers on the basis of the arbitrary order
A BCDE. After how many hours will all jobs be completed?
ii. Use Johnson's rule to sequence these five jobs for minimum total duration. Construct a chart of
the resulting sequence and find the idle time for paint shop. [2+3]

**********************