The Ace Tool Company is considering implementing transfer batches in scheduling the firm’s fabrication shop i.e. once 100 units have been processed in Work Centre 1, they are transferred to Work Centre 2. The production manager selected an example order to use in evaluating benefits and potential costs of this scheduling approach. A transfer batch size of 100 units was suggested for this item. The example order is for a quantity of 1000 units and has the following routing data.

Operation	Work center	Set up time	Run Time/unit
1	2	40 mins	2.4min/unit
2	2	20 mins	1.44 mins/unit

Assuming a single shift, 8 hour day, 5 day week for work centers 1 and 2. 

Q 1 (i) Prepare a Gantt Chart showing the earliest start and finish schedule for this order under a conventional scheduling approach when all 1000 units are processed together in one batch. Compare this to a Gantt Chart showing when batch sizes of 100 are used (assume one setup in Work Centre 2 is sufficient for all batches). You will obviously need to calculate the time spent in the work Centre's etc. so remember to show you’re mathematical workings as well as the Gantt Chart.

 Q 1 (ii) What are the advantages of using the batch transfer system?