The customer will take any quantity up to 50 gift boxes per week (but is willing to take less), which will be collected by the customer every Monday morning at 08H00. To produce the gift box components, 3mm double-sided black MDF sheets are used as the raw material for the gift box body (sheet size 550 mm X 300mm). 3mm single-sided white MDF is used as the raw material for the white keys (sheet size A4 of 297 mm X 210 mm). The GCC Spirit Laser Machine can accommodate sheets of 750 mm X 460 mm. The raw material sheets are bought pre-cut in the correct sheet size. The components for the body of 1 gift box can be cut from 1 sheet of double-sided black MDF. The white keys are cut as a unit and only 1 white key set is needed per gift box. Every day, only enough key sets are cut for the number of gift boxes to be produced. 16 white key sets can be cut from one A4 singled-sided white MDF Only full black sheets (i.e., all the components for one gift box) are cut. If at the end of the day/shift, there is not enough time to cut a complete gift box, production will stop.

The diagram below shows the processes, primary resources, and task durations. If the laser machine and its operator (which will perform all tasks relating to this order) both have 4 hours available per day in a 5-day work week to dedicate to this order, calculate how many gift boxes The Laser Touch should be willing to commit to. Calculate the daily output before converting to the weekly output. calculate the loads on the resources to see what their operational throughput rates would be, to determine the constraint.

 

Operator Switch laser cutting machine on, send file to machine 10 min per cutting session Operator Place large black, blank sheet in laser cutting machine, focus laser beam 30 sec per sheet Operator Place A4 white, blank sheet in laser cutting machine, select qty of key sets to cut, focus laser beam, 2 min/ sheet Laser cutting machine Cut one grand piano gift box components 29 minutes per sheet Laser cutting machine Cut piano key sets 1 minute per one set of keys Operator Clean out components from machine, remove waste material 3.5 minutes per large sheet Operator Clean out components from machine, remove waste material 1 minute per A4 sheet, irrespective of quantity of key sets cut Operator Assembly and package grand piano gift box 20 minutes per grand piano Operator Switch laser cutting machine off, clean rails and mirrors 15 min per cutting session