Discussion:
Q: Macon Controls produces three different types of control units used to protect industrial equipment from overheating. Each of these units must be processed by a machine that Macon considers to be their process bottleneck. The plant operates on two 8-hour shifts, 5 days per week, 52 weeks per year.
The table below provides the time standards at the bottleneck, lot sizes, and demand forecasts for the three units. Because of demand uncertainties, the operations manager three demand forecasts (pessimistic, expected, and optimistic). The manager believes that a 30 percent capacity cushion is best.
a. How many machines are required to meet minimum (Pessimistic) demand, expected demand, and maximum (Optimistic) demand?
b. How many machines are required If the operations manager decides to double responses round up to the next year?