The case described about Kristen’s cookie company which provide freshly made cookies with variety of ingredients available to add to the cookies. The company is established in the on campus apartment. The cookies are made by 2 people, using a standard dough mixing equipment, tray and the apartment oven. Below is the explanation and evaluation of the preliminary process design in making and selling the cookies to the customers. Kristen’s cookie company promises that the cookies will be ready for pick up within an hour.
a. The total time to produce 1 dozen of cookies is= 6+2+1+9+5+2+1 = 26 minutes
b. The total baking time is 10 minutes
c. The output from mixing is for 3 dozens of cookies while the oven’s capacity is only for 1 dozen for every baking process.
2. The bottleneck operation:
The capacity of the operation in making cookies is based on the output of the bottleneck. The bottleneck operation is baking the cookies in the oven, which can process 60min/(1+9) min = 6 dozen orders per hour. This assumes one dozen order sizes.
The Term Paper on The Internationalisation Process Of Companies
I. ) Introduction "Global interdependence is pervasive. It is not only political and military... [but] also environmental... Perhaps the most important aspect of interdependence however is economic." (Terpstra, 1993, Preface) Today more and more firms operate internationally and in some cases even globally. In almost all major economies of the world, the significance of domestic and / or foreign- ...
3. Number of orders that can be fulfilled in a night:
The operational hours is assumed 4 hours every night. The first dozen requires 26 minutes, so the time left is= (60 minutes x 4 hours) – 26 minutes = 214 minutes. As the baking operation is the bottleneck and it requires 10 minutes per dozen, so the numbers of the cookies can be produced after the first dozen is = 214 minutes/10 minutes ~ 21 dozens. The total production for 4 hours operation is = 1+21 = 22 dozens. To optimize the capacity, the oven has to be continuously in operation every 10 minutes.
4. Delivery times to customers:
Kristen’s cookie company promises its customer that the cookies are ready to be collected in an hour. This promise can be fulfilled depends on the order size and the time when the customers order the cookies. For the first time order during the operational hour, the company can deliver the
1 min
maximum order size to meet the promise is: 1 dozen + (60 minutes – 26 minutes)/10 = 4 dozens order size.
5. Recommendations to improve the system performance:
a. Optimize the time utilization of each person in the process. Preparation for 2 or more dozens per order will occupy less total time of the labor than preparation for 1 dozen per order. Less time means the labor can be more productive and cost is also less. The discount scheme can also be applied based on the calculation of this reduced labor cost and to increase the sales volume. b. The bottleneck can be removed by utilizing additional oven for the baking process. This means more cookies can be made but requires additional investment for the new oven. c. Few factors that need to be considered before making decisions on the development of the company are: the number of labors for the operation, the demand from the customers, delivery time to the customers and what kind of equipment is needed and how much is the cost.
