Now that you have been at Maxs B-B-Q Inc. for a while, the plant manager asks you to assist the production scheduling department with pricing data on a high volume job requiring knife blades for the companys best customer. As you know, it is the plant managers philosophy to be proactive when scheduling tool maintenance (regrinds) rather than have to unexpectedly pull the tool. However, pricing will be a very important factor in selling this job to the customer. Essentially, the plant manager wants no unplanned tool pulls, but sales needs pricing cost reductions. The production scheduler would like a tool regrind schedule that results in minimal inventory.

You will soon be meeting with the plant manager and the managers from sales and production scheduling. They are expecting you to have an answer to the question: Given the need to balance maximizing tool use, minimizing inventory, minimizing production disruption, and minimizing cost, how many strokes should you recommend to run this tool before pulling for a regrind?

Create a graph that shows the number of unplanned pulls versus the number of strokes. The graph should comprise at least six data points. Next, complete the spread sheet given below showing the costs of each individuals plan. Using the graph and the spreadsheet, prepare a response for the question, How many strokes should the tool be run before pulling it for a regrind? Your analysis should include answers to the following questions:

How will this number balance tool use, cost, inventory, and production disruption? What are the economics of this situation?