7- Kelly Wright, a planner at the Wildcat Boot Company, is working on a master production schedule. The production plan stated the amounts that were to be produced in each quarter for a product family that is made in one department. The product family, called Mountain Lions, consists of three different types of high-performance hiking boots. The following table shows the quarterly schedule for the three different boot models.

Kelly will divide the quarter directly into weekly time blocks without considering monthly quantities. The first and last quarters comprise 12 weeks each, the middle quarters 13 weeks each. The company usually works two 7.5-hour shifts for 5 days a week. Kelly’s goal is to have a level schedule that calls for production of the same amount of a boot model in each week of the quarter, without working overtime. Ideally, a week’s supply of each product would be produced each week. The forecast for the coming year is higher than in the past, and Kelly has doubts that the forecast goal can be achieved. With regard to the first quarter,

a. Can the company set up and run all three boot models each week without overtime work?

b. If no overtime is permitted, which boot model(s) do you think should be run less often? How often should they be run?

c. For which boot model would it be most advantageous to reduce the setup time?
For which should the run time be reduced?

d. Repeat the process for the second quarter.

Transcribed Image Text:

Quarterly Schedule MODEL NAME I 2 3 4 SETUP TIME Production Data RUN TIME/UNIT Catamount 320 380 510 630 4 hr 6.0 min Bobcat Lynx 1,100 975 950 1,000 3 hr 5.5 min 7,400 8,200 8,000 7,100 2 hr 5.4 min