XYZ company employs a four-step production process to produce metal-alloy-coated precision parts. The first step is fabrication. The fabrication machine takes 7.5 minutes per unit to mold raw material into the proper shape of a part. The second step is coating. The coating machine applies a layer of one of many metal alloys at high heat. The coating machine takes 24 minutes, and it can coat up to six units of parts (of the same metal alloy) at a time. The third step is cooling. It takes 50 minutes for a coated part to cool. No equipment is required for this step, and there is plenty of cooling space. The fourth step is polishing, which takes 5 minutes per part. For simplicity, you should assume the production system operates continuously (i. e., 24 hours a day) and that the system has been running for some time. A) Currently, XYZ is following a production sequence in which each part produced is a coated with a different alloy than the last one (e. g., an aluminum-alloy part is followed by a titanium-alloy part, which is followed by a bronze-alloy part, etc.). As a result, the coating machine can coat one unit at a time. What is the capacity of the production process?
B) In February, XYZ purchased an additional polishing machine. What is the capacity of the production process now? Explain why it has (or has not) changed from your answer to Question A.
C) In March, XYZ changed to produce parts in batches of two (e. g., produce two aluminum-alloy parts, followed by two titanium-alloy parts, which is followed by two bronze-alloy parts, etc.). What is the capacity of the production process now (assume no setup time for each batch)? Explain why it has (or has not) changed from your answer to Question B.
D) In April, XYZ purchased a second coating machine. (XYZ continues to produce parts in batches of two.) What is the capacity of the production process now? Explain why it has (or has not) changed from your answer to Question C.
E) In April, XYZ installed fans throughout the cooling space which reduced the cooling time to 15 minutes. What is the capacity of the production process now? Explain why it has (or has not) changed from your answer to Question D.