Production Manager
Sony Technology Center
 
 
Concept: Ratio
Ratio Problem: Production monitoring
 
Work Skills
Jobs and Careers
 
Background:
Kim works with a variety of formulas every day to calculate various aspects of productivity in her area. Among other things, she calculates the following:
  • Defect ratio-the ratio of monitors that are taken off the line because of defects to the total number of monitors that are completed successfully in a give time. Defect ratio is calculated to help Kim observe and analyze production problems-to figure out where they are occurring, how often, and why.
  • "Tag time"-the amount of time for that it takes for each operator to perform his or her particular function, such as assembly, on the line for a particular product. Tag time gives production employees information about how quickly they need to work in order to meet the production goal.
    • These values must be calculated frequently because they change according to the particular product that is being made, the customer demand for that product, and the production problems that may arise.

    Problem:
    You are the production manager for an area of the plant that produces a variety of types of computer monitors. The shift that you supervise is over, and you need to do the following:

  • Set up a formula and calculate the daily defect ratio, expressed as a percent, for each of the six production lines you manage. (All the values provided are fictitious.) 

    • Line		Monitors	Monitors	Production
Number		Taken off 	Completed	Goal         
Line 1	 	9		250		240
Line 2	 	8		263		240
Line 3		13		242		240
Line 4 		6		154		145
Line 5	 	5		144		145	
Line 6	 	2		160		145

  • Set up a formula for and calculate the "tag time" for lines 1, 2, and 3 for tomorrow's production of a different product, Monitor C. The production goal for each of the three lines is 520. Calculate the tag time based on an 8-hour day; but subtract 5 minutes per hour for short hourly breaks and 5 minutes for delays resulting from defects. Subtract an additional one hour for the entire day to account for a one half hour lunch break and two fifteen-minute breaks.

    Determine the number of seconds in which each assembler who works on the line will need to perform his or her function on the monitor, if the production goal is to be met.

    • The solution to this problem is included in the problem file, available for downloading.